“What, you mean like a kangaroo?” Rebecca asked.
“Yeah,” Jeffrey confirmed as he crouched down to study it closer. “I think this is a thylacoleo carnifex—more commonly known as a ‘marsupial lion.’ They’re an extinct species from Australia.”
“But I don’t get it,” Jerome commented. “This one seems larger than most of the reported fossils of thylacoleo. I’ve read articles about giant animal fossils, but those fossils were dated to be at least…”
“Let me guess,” Rebecca interjected, “millions of year old?”
Jeffrey glanced at her, but didn’t reply. His face, however, reflected his confusion.
“Keep your weapon ready, in case we encounter anything else,” Goliath said.
“Yeah,” Rebecca said in agreement, “I think I’ll do that.”
“Especially since these things were supposed to have hunted in small groups,” Jeffrey added as he stood and scanned the surrounding area warily.
Leaving the carcass behind, the group headed out once again, their senses more alert. As they moved deeper into the forest, it became more difficult to maintain their vigilance as their attention became drawn to dozens of beautiful, yet strangely-shaped plants and moss that lay cloistered among the roots of the trees like little children huddling around their mother’s skirts. Patches of round mushrooms that were the size of baseballs lay scattered about the area. Thick mosses of vibrant purple and blue grew up the sides of the trees. Red-tinged vines as thick as a man’s arm hung to the ground. Flowers of bright orange, yellow, white, and blue dotted the floor of the forest, as if a master painter had deliberately placed them in strategic locations to liven up the dark browns and gentle greens of the trees and leaves.
“Is that what I think it is?” Jerome asked, pointing toward a circular red object about the size of a small pumpkin hanging from one of the lowest branches of a tree. Running up to the base of the trunk, he began looking around on the ground. As expected, several more of the objects littered the area. Picking one up, he examined it closely. “Jeffrey, it looks like some kind of apple—an enormous, red apple!”
“Surely you jest!” Mack said, coming up to stand beside him. “That thing looks like it’s been pumping steroids!”
Rebecca stepped over to join Mack and Jerome. After examining another one of the gigantic apples, she wiped it off with her shirt, then took a bite of the fruit. The exquisite flavors that burst in her mouth caused a groan of pleasure to escape from her lips. The thick, sticky juice flowed down her chin as she bit into the succulent flesh of the apple once again. “I’ve never tasted anything like this!” she exclaimed. “It’s like…like eating apple-flavored candy, only richer. Not rich in a ‘make-you-sick’ kind of way, but rich in a pure, natural way.”
Grabbing one for himself, Mack sank his teeth deep into it. “Man, that’s good! Ya know, Becky, if this is Earth, like you say it is, then why do you think everything is so big? And why don’t we have fruit this good anymore? Do you think it’s got something to do with this environment?”
Rebecca thought for a moment before responding. “Yes, I do. If you remember correctly, when we told Noah that humans during our time only live about one hundred years, he responded by saying he believed it was due to the change in climate after the Flood.” Rebecca paused to take another small bite of the fruit.
“When I first started my research into Creationism, I came across several articles about a ‘vapor canopy’ model,” she continued. “Although many creation scientists said that it had scientific problems, the model did explain quite a bit.”
“Like what?” Mack asked.
“Like why people lived so much longer,” she replied, “why there are fossils of giant animals and plants in the fossil record, and why dinosaurs didn’t grow as large after the Flood.”
“Hey, that’s right,” Mack said. “Jerome and Jeffrey, didn’t you guys say that those Monoclonius dinosaurs we encountered with the Mayans were smaller than the ones in the fossil record?”
Jeffrey didn’t reply, but Jerome nodded once, unenthusiastically. “Yeah.”
Mack grinned at the confirmation as he turned his attention back to Rebecca. “So, you think there’s some kind of extra layer of atmosphere up there causing everything to grow bigger?”
Rebecca shrugged. “It’s possible, but as I said, it didn’t work as a scientific model. All I know is that there seems to be something in the air affecting these things.”
“Yeah, I can vouch for that,” he commented as he chewed. “We’ll have to grab some of these apples on the way back to the ship. They sure beat that other stuff we’ve been eating.”
“Jeffrey, over here,” Goliath said, interrupting their conversation.
Turning to look at the giant, he saw him kneeling down and examining something on the ground. “What is it?” he said as he strode over to see what had caught the interest of his companion.
“Animal tracks, and lots of them,” Goliath said as he stood. “I’ve been trained in tracking, yet some of these are unfamiliar to me. Look at this one,” he said, moving to his right and pointing to a small cluster of four indentations. “This larger section looks similar to a horse’s hoof, but I don’t know what to make of the other three smaller indentations. And this other one to the left looks like nothing I have ever seen before.”
Jeffrey shook his head as the truth hit him. “I have seen tracks like this before. Fossilized tracks. These are small, but unmistakable, tyrannosaur tracks.”
Mack, Rebecca, and Jerome, who had overheard most of the conversation, came over to join the other two. “Wait…wait…wait!” Mack blurted out. “There must’ve been something in that fruit that messed with my head. I could have sworn that you just said tyrannosaur tracks. But I know that can’t be right!”
Jerome crouched down to examine the tracks, then swore softly. “That’s it, alright. It must be a juvenile, judging by the size and stride.”
“I don’t care if it’s a lil’ ol’ granny t-rex! I still don’t want to meet it,” Mack exclaimed, all the while scanning the surrounding area as if expecting one of the creatures to lumber out from behind a tree at any moment. “Those things are mean! They can crush a whole jeep just by stepping on it. And they’re real protective of their young. Didn’t you ever see any of the Jurassic Park movies? I say we get moving before it, or its parents, find us!”
Not the least fazed by Mack’s concern, Goliath continued to study the tracks. “I don’t think we have to worry about running into any of the animals who made these,” he said casually. “At least not yet.”
“What do you mean? Why not?” Jeffrey asked.
“Because, they’re several days old and they all lead in the same direction. Uphill.”
“Were they running away from something?” Mack asked.
“They weren’t running,” Jerome said as he continued to study the tracks. “They’re too close together.”
“They were moving toward something!” Rebecca said in sudden understanding. “The Ark! These animals were heading toward the Ark!”
“Don’t jump to conclusions, Becky,” Jeffrey warned. “There could be lots of reasons—”
“Oh shut up,” Rebecca said in frustration. “I’ll believe my theories, you believe yours.” Without waiting for a reply, she turned to look at the others. “At least now we have a clear path to follow. We’ve gotta hurry. If the animals are already on board, then there isn’t much time left. And by the way,” she said, staring directly back at her husband, “my name is Rebecca.” Not even turning to see if the others were coming with her, she headed off down the trail.
For a moment, Jerome and Mack just looked at Jeffrey as if trying to decide what to do. As Goliath started walking after Rebecca, Jeffrey shifted the weight of his pack on his shoulders. “What are you two staring at?” he snapped. “We might as well use the trail. At least it’s taking us in the right direction.”
Jerome and Mack merely exchanged glances, and then followe
d behind him.
Although the group was forced to step around the occasional animal dropping, the trail proved to accelerate their travel greatly. After about an hour of fast-paced walking, the incline of the path increased noticeably. Fortunately, the animals who blazed the trail seemed to have found the shortest and least strenuous route possible. The more Rebecca and the others climbed, the more they realized how difficult the climb would have been had they not found the trail.
Finally, as the sun dipped low on the horizon, they reached the edge of the forest. Directly in front of them ran a well-worn dirt road over forty feet wide. From their vantage point, it appeared that the road wove its way down the hill and headed back to the city, which now lay somewhere off to the northwest. To their right, a smaller road branched off from the main one and led north to a cluster of large buildings hidden back in a copse of trees. The main road, however, continued on another one hundred feet until it came to an abrupt end at a huge clearing at the top of the hill.
A large portion of the clearing, which spread out for several miles, was surrounded by a twenty-foot granite wall. Rising silently from behind the wall like an enormous mythical beast sat the Ark.
Snelling, Andrew, Ph.D. “A Catastrophic Breakup: A Scientific Look at Catastrophic Plate Tectonics.” Answers Magazine, April–June 2007, Vol. 2 No. 2: 44–48.
4
Vandals
For several minutes, all Rebecca and the others could do was stare at the massive vessel. From bow to stern, the ship, which ran perpendicular to their vantage point, stretched five hundred feet, covering a large portion of the hilltop. From what they could see through the bars of the heavy metal gate, the giant craft rested on a bed of planks and supports, adding several more feet to its already impressive fifty-foot height. Bathed in the rays of the setting sun, the wooden sides of the vessel seemed to glow a deep, warm amber.
The overall shape and design of the vessel reminded Rebecca of pictures she had seen of ancient galleys. Near the bow, a twenty-five-foot-long fin-like structure rose up from the roof, increasing the height of the front of the ship significantly. Projecting out an additional twenty-five feet from the stern was another fin-like structure. This one, however, pointed down and appeared to be some sort of fixed rudder. Unlike the other ships that Rebecca had seen, the Ark, by necessity, had a roof. Running down the center of the roof, there was a row of raised windows about a foot high and four feet wide, each with a covering that appeared able to swing upward to let in light and air during dry weather.
The only entrance Rebecca could see was located near the front of the ship about two-thirds of the way up the side. A huge mound of packed earth and rocks obscured nearly half of the Ark as it formed a natural ramp leading up to the ten-foot square door, which currently stood open.
The clearing surrounding the mighty vessel reminded Rebecca of a battlefield. Numerous objects that appeared to have once been neatly stacked were now strewn about the area, broken and crushed. Piles of wood lay splintered and disorganized, shards of pottery appeared to have been trampled, and wooden wheelbarrows were tipped over and smashed. In addition, large stumps the diameter of a small house remained standing as a testament to the number of trees required to build the massive structure. Scattered among all of the debris and stumps were animal droppings, and lots of them.
“Look at the size of that thing!” Mack stated.
“I…I never imagined it would be so…so big,” Jerome said at last, the amazement in his voice palpable. “It’s gotta be over one and half times the size of a football field! For some reason I’ve always had this image in my head of a small boat with giraffes and elephants sticking their heads out through open windows.”
“That’s because, too often, well-meaning people draw it that way when they tell the story to their children,” Rebecca commented. “Or, when they teach it in Sunday school.”
Jerome turned to look at her, his expression revealing his growing respect. “You’re right. That’s where I saw it. I remember thinking it was an insult to my intelligence that they’d expect me to believe it was real history. But, they never described it to me like this.”
A sense of superiority and vindication suddenly came over Rebecca. “Maybe you should’ve read your Bible more. It has the dimensions of the Ark listed right there in Genesis 6. Of course, the Bible gives the dimensions in cubits, which is the distance between a man’s elbow and the tip of his finger—roughly eighteen inches. However, the cubit in the ancient world varied from place to place. By the looks of it, Noah must have used the larger cubit, which would make the Ark over five hundred feet in length.”
Jerome’s countenance darkened at Rebecca’s know-it-all attitude, causing him to keep any further comments to himself.
Recalling a previous conversation regarding Jerome’s loss of faith due to his experience with hypocrites in the church, Rebecca pressed her philosophical advantage. “And that’s one of the problems with our churches: we teach the history in Genesis as if it were just stories.”
Highly uncomfortable with the current topic of conversation, Jeffrey drew the other’s attention back to their immediate situation. “I never expected there to be a wall. How are we going to get past it?”
“Maybe we could figure out some way to use the levitation devices to get us over it,” Jerome suggested.
“It’s too high,” the tall, dark-skinned man that was Goliath replied. “It looks like there might be some kind of…Quick! Everyone back behind the trees!”
Although none of the others saw any signs of immediate danger, they nevertheless reacted instantly to Goliath’s command. Once they were all safely crouched behind one of the trees, they searched the area for the source of the giant’s concern. It didn’t take them very long to find it.
In one of the windows of the buildings that were off the main road, a soft, orange light began to glow. As they watched, it began to grow steadily brighter until they could make out the telltale signs of a fire. A moment later, the same scenario repeated itself as each of the other four buildings was set ablaze.
As they watched, Rebecca and her companions saw shadowy figures emerging from the flaming structures. From the way they moved, and based on the fact that they all held some kind of torch-like object in their hands, Rebecca knew instantly that the figures were not the local residents.
They were vandals. And they were heading straight toward the road.
“Hold!” Goliath called out as they watched the approach of the shadowy group. “They probably don’t know we’re even here. With dusk upon us, the lighting is poor. We’ll most likely escape their notice.”
As the thirteen tall figures approached the road, the torches in their hands seemed to wink out one by one even as the conflagration behind them consumed everything in its path, sending dark plumes of smoke into the air. Sure enough, when the vandals reached the road, they turned toward the metal gate protecting the Ark, completely ignoring the travelers.
“They don’t look any older than teenagers,” Rebecca said as the young men reached their destination.
“Probably some kind of street gang,” Goliath stated. “Notice how each has a black band wound around his head. I saw some kind of symbol drawn there.”
“And they’re all wearing the same type of sleeveless shirts and dark colored pantaloons,” Jeffrey added.
Rebecca’s eyes narrowed as she continued watching the men. “What are they…oh, no,” she said, realization suddenly striking her. “They’re going to burn the Ark!”
“What?” Jeffrey said, his head turning quickly in her direction. “What makes you—”
Before he could finish his sentence, the gate suddenly swung inward. Immediately, the men poured through the opening and sprinted toward the wooden vessel. As they ran, tongues of fire sprang into existence in the hands of several of them.
“We have to do something!” Rebecca nearly shouted in panic.
“Isn’t this supposed to be God’s Ark?” Jeffrey asked spit
efully. “I want to see Him protect it.”
Leaping to her feet, Rebecca shoved Jeffrey hard, sending him sprawling into the dirt. “You’re such a jerk! I for one am not going to just sit by and do nothing.” Without another word, Rebecca darted forward onto the street, her laser pistol held ready in her right hand.
Seeing that their element of surprise was about to be lost, Goliath quickly turned to the others and spoke rapidly. “They’ll likely be armed. As soon as I take one out, grab his weapon. Until then, activate the levitation devices and use them as a shield.” Rising gracefully to his feet, the giant sprinted after Rebecca, his lengthy stride rapidly closing the gap between them.
“Oh man, I…I don’t know if I can do this,” Mack muttered worriedly. “I’m not a fighter.”
Jerome, his own face radiating fear, looked at Mack and swallowed. “We’ll just have to do what we can. C’mon.” Searching the ground around him, Jerome grabbed a broken branch to use as club. Taking a deep breath as if preparing to dive into water, he ran out into the street, followed by Mack who was brandishing his own makeshift weapon.
Cursing loudly in frustration, Jeffrey reluctantly followed.
Rebecca had just passed through the open gate when Goliath caught up to her. Grabbing her by the arm, he pushed her to the ground behind a large stump just as two of the men turned in their direction, their attention drawn by the sound of the running figures. Holding a finger to his lips to indicate silence, the giant peered around the curve of the stump.
The two men immediately spotted Mack, Jerome, and Jeffrey who were nearing the open gate. Crying out in alarm, the two men grabbed their nearby comrades, and the five of them turned and began heading back toward the newcomers.
Goliath held up his hand, indicating for Rebecca to wait. In his other hand, he held Nimrod’s sword ready. Because the attention of the group of men was focused solely on Jeffrey and the others, they walked right past Goliath and Rebecca without noticing them. Silently, the pair held up their weapons and took aim as the five men drew out their two-foot-long, thin short swords from sheaths on their hips.
Escaping the Cataclysm Page 4