Escaping the Cataclysm

by Keith Robinson

  Akwen turned to face him at his last statement, her face dark with accusation. “Why didn’t you step in to help us before dat monster broke Jeffrey’s back? You took him and his guard out easily enough afterwards. Why did you wait so long?”

  Bristling at her tone, Goliath stared back at her, his anger beginning to flare. “When Arngrim took you down into his workshop, I was stuck several floors up. It took me a few minutes to figure out where he had taken you. As I searched the area, I discovered the room with the flying platforms. When I finally found that bull-like guard standing at the end of the wide hall, I recognized where I was. But before I could do anything, Odin arrived. Fortunately, after he dismissed the guard, he opened the hidden entrance for me. However, knowing that I could never take him out by myself, I waited again, hoping for the right opportunity.”

  “Which Rebecca’s angel friend conveniently provided,” Jerome said. “Well, I for one am very glad you arrived when you did. I sure thought we were goners.”

  Still frowning, Akwen narrowed her eyes. “And just what would you have done if dat angel hadn’t shown up? How long were you going to wait?”

  Goliath returned her glare. “Look, I helped you out, didn’t I? What more do you want? I wasn’t going to risk my neck needlessly if I knew I couldn’t rescue you. You should be thankful. If it weren’t for me, you’d all be dead. ”

  Akwen backed off, even though her face was still hard. “I am grateful. But I also know dat da only reason you even saved us is because you knew dat witout us, Noah wouldn’t take you on da Ark and you couldn’t pilot dis pyramid alone…”

  Her voice trailed off as a disturbing thought entered her mind. “Wait a second. You said you were stuck a couple of floors up when Arngrim took us to his workshop, but he never took us in a lift. We went down da stairs. You should have had no problem following us. You weren’t ‘stuck,’ were you? You were on da pyramid!”

  Jerome, Mack, and Dr. Eisenberg glanced back and forth between Akwen and Goliath in shock. Leaning back in his throne-like chair, Goliath smiled sardonically as he returned Akwen’s stare. “Don’t take it personally,” he replied. “I didn’t see any way that I could rescue you at the time, so I figured there was no sense in me dying also. I made my way to the entrance of the pyramid while Arngrim talked to you. When he turned to go inside, I was already on board. I figured that I would hitch a ride and watch how he controlled the ship. Once we had arrived after the Flood, I would kill him, and possibly his two women if they posed a threat, then take the pyramid. Depending on how well things went, I had even considered coming back to get you.”

  “Yeah, right,” Jerome muttered under his breath.

  “Speaking of Arngrim’s concubines, what happened to them?” Mack asked.

  “They probably just left the pyramid when the Flood began,” Dr. Eisenberg surmised.

  Her anger still roiling, Akwen refused to be sidetracked. “So, when Arngrim couldn’t get da time machine to work, dat’s when you knew you had to go to plan B and rescue us! It’s so nice to know dat we’re such a strong priority for you.”

  Goliath shrugged. “What did you expect? After all, ours is a relationship of convenience and survival. I am a mercenary, after all.”

  “That reminds me,” Mack said. “Doc, guess what? It turns out that our giant friend here isn’t a cyborg or a Naphil. He’s actually a genetically altered human!”

  The doctor and Akwen both stared at Goliath in surprise. “But, how is that possible?” Dr. Eisenberg asked. “As far as I’m aware, genetic manipulation of human DNA has not progressed that far in our time.”

  “It just goes to show that there is a lot that the average person isn’t aware of, at least as far as science goes,” Goliath said snidely. “But I can assure you, Herc and I are not alone. The knowledge of how to mix human and animal DNA is progressing rapidly.”

  Dr. Eisenberg’s expression fell. “Meaning that, soon, our own society may begin to reflect the pre-Flood one, except the Cataclysm that we will face will be the final judgment of mankind.”

  “Anyway,” Mack said after an awkward silence, “we found out quite a bit more about our giant friend here.”

  Knowing the direction the conversation was about to take, Jerome stood. “I think I’ll skip this part of the discussion, if you don’t mind. I’m gonna go take a much needed nap.”

  As Jerome descended the stairs, Mack continued. “So, Mr. Goliath, correct me if I get any part of your story wrong. You and your buddy Herc were mercenaries that were hired by a terrorist group in Iraq. They had already bought the technical specs for the gravity control device from Jerome —who needed the money to pay for his daughter’s medical bills—” he explained to Dr. Eisenberg and Akwen, whose eyes grew wide with surprise, “but the terrorists wanted to get their hands on the technical journals of the pyramid. Am I right so far?”

  Goliath remained silent and seemingly uninterested in Mack’s summary of events. Taking the giant’s silence as approval, Mack continued.

  “Once Hercules died and things turned against you, you lied to us and told us that you were a cyborg that would blow up if we ‘killed’ you. When we arrived in the Ice Age, Noah called you a Naphil because you resembled some of the genetically altered Nephilim.”

  “Congratulations,” Goliath said dispassionately. “You figured out my secrets.”

  “Not all of them,” Mack said. “How is it that you got a hold of such cool technology? I mean, those holographic grenades you used when you originally attacked the base were amazing.”

  The giant remained silent for a moment, contemplating whether or not to answer his question. “Let’s just say that the people who ‘created’ me have friends in high places as well as access to all of the latest gadgets.”

  “And they just let you use that stuff to do mercenary jobs for terrorists?” Mack asked incredulously.

  “Herc and I had a bit of a…falling out with our original employers,” Goliath stated. Standing, he began crossing over toward the stairs. “I’ve had enough of your questions. Now, if you don’t mind, it’s been a long couple of days. I’m going to get a little well-deserved sleep.” With that, he headed down the stairs and disappeared.

  “Gee, he sure is a barrel of laughs,” Mack said sarcastically.

  “Despite his past and his selfish motives, he did still save our lives. And for that, we do owe him our gratitude. It just goes to show that God can even use selfish mercenaries to accomplish His goals,” Dr. Eisenberg said. Using the wall for support, he grunted in slight pain as he climbed to his feet. “Goliath does have a good point, though. It has been a couple of long days. I think I will retire also.”

  “Yeah, me too,” Mack said as he rose. “Y’know, Doc, there’s one more thing that still bothers me though.”

  “And that is?”

  “When we sealed Arngrim in the chamber, he and the soldier were both dead on the floor. But that’s not how we found them in the future. Did we alter history?”

  Dr. Eisenberg raised his eyebrows. “We may never know. But consider this: Arngrim may not have been dead, just unconscious. He may have lived a little while longer before his air ran out.”

  Mack harrumphed. “I hadn’t thought of that. Man, time travel messes with your head.”

  A few moments later, the two men had left the room. Sitting in the oversized chair, Akwen closed her eyes and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Within a minute, her exhaustion overwhelmed her and she nodded off to sleep, Elmer whirring quietly next to her, his sensors monitoring the pyramid as it continued to travel further and further back in time.

  28

  Confessions

  As Rebecca entered the room, she saw Lisa glance up at her from where she sat beside the bed. With eyes red and puffy from crying, Lisa stood and walked toward Rebecca. Lowering her head and averting her eyes, she stepped quickly passed her and left the room, leaving Rebecca alone with her husband who laid unmoving on the bed.

  Closing the door, Rebecca
crossed over to stand next to the bed that had once been occupied by Dr. Eisenberg. As she drew near, Jeffrey turned his head to look at her, his own eyes moist with tears and his expression grim.

  “Hi,” Rebecca said simply, forcing herself to smile despite the ache that she felt in her heart. At the sight of her husband’s broken body, she fought against the tears that seemed to demand release.

  “Hi,” Jeffrey replied softly. “I’m…I’m glad to see you. I…we…we need to talk.”

  Uncertainty plagued her, causing her heart to pound. What does he want to talk about? What’s going to happen to us, Lord? So much has changed. Where do we go from here?

  Not knowing what to say, Rebecca sat in the chair that Lisa had recently vacated. “How are you?”

  Jeffrey turned his head to stare at the wall of the room as he spoke, his voice pained. “I’m alive. But, it looks like I’ll never walk again. My legs are completely paralyzed.”

  “Oh God, Jeffrey,” Rebecca said as the tears came. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Yes. God,” he repeated, almost inaudibly. Turning back to look at her, he smiled weakly. “Rebecca, I believe now that God exists.”

  Rebecca took his hand in both of hers, her expression radiant. Seeing her excitement, his expression fell. “I know what you’re thinking, but before you say anything, let me finish. I believe God exists, but I can’t serve Him.”

  Rebecca felt a dull ache in the pit of her stomach. “I…I don’t understand. Why do you say that?”

  “Because…” he began. As he continued, he stared ahead at the door of the room, his face blank and expressionless. “Because I’ve done terrible things.”

  Breathing a sigh of relief, Rebecca leaned closer. “But Jeffrey, we all have. That’s what is so wonderful about what Jesus did. ‘While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.’”1

  Jeffrey pulled his hand away from hers as he shook his head. “No. You wouldn’t say that if you knew what I’d done.”

  An intense feeling of sorrow mixed with dread settled in her spirit. Afraid of the answer, she nevertheless asked the question that she knew she needed to ask. “What have you done?” she asked softly.

  A profound stillness filled the room as Jeffrey struggled with his own inner turmoil. When he finally spoke, it was like the voice of a man sentenced to death. “I’ve done many terrible things in my life. I’ve stolen things, cheated on tests, and lied to people to further my own ambitions, just to name a few. But, more than all of that, I did things that I know God would never forgive me for.”

  Rebecca wanted to tell him how Jesus could forgive any sin, no matter how bad, but she bit her lip, knowing that now was not the right time. Without even looking at her, Jeffrey continued, his voice dull and even.

  “I’ve never told this to anyone. Not to Jerome, my parents, or even you. Back in February of 2016, when I was working on my bachelor’s degree at Northern Illinois University, I was dating this woman named Jaime. It was late on a Friday night and I was heading into Chicago to meet up with some friends to party. Jaime called me on my cell phone and was upset that I was leaving town. We started to fight. I yelled at her and told her she was being overly dramatic, which only made her more frustrated. In anger, she blurted out the real reason she was upset.”

  Rebecca felt her insides go cold at the direction the story had taken. She gripped the bedframe tightly; her heart seemed to have stopped beating in her chest.

  Lost in his own memories, Jeffrey took no notice of Rebecca’s tension. “She…she was pregnant with my child.”

  Oh God! she sobbed inwardly as the full implications of what he was telling her sank in. For years, she and Jeffrey had tried to have children, but she was unable to conceive. Now, the truth hit her like a slap in the face, confirming her worst fears. If Jeffrey had a child, then that meant that her barrenness was her fault. She was the one who couldn’t have a baby. GOD! she cried out inwardly in anguish. Why have you done this to me? Why have you made it so that I cannot experience the joy of motherhood?

  Glancing over at her, he realized his words had cut her as deeply as any weapon. Wanting to comfort her this time, he reached out and grasped her hand. “Bec—Rebecca, I’m sorry. Do you see now why I’ve never told you? I knew you wanted to have a child, but…maybe we just shouldn’t talk about this anymore.”

  Brushing away her tears, Rebecca shook her head emphatically. “No. It’s okay. I’ll be alright. Please, Jeffrey, no matter how painful it is, I want to know everything.”

  Still unsure, Jeffrey studied her for several seconds before letting go of her hand and continuing. “When she told me the news, I was…I was driving on a bridge that straddled the expressway. It was probably nine o’clock at night, and it had been snowing lightly all day. By that time, the snow had become heavier, but I was determined to go to Chicago.

  “The entrance ramp to the expressway was on the other side of the bridge. This particular ramp connected to a county round, and with the weather being so bad, there was almost no one out that night. When Jaime told me the news I…I became so scared and angry that I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing.”

  Swallowing against the lump in his throat, Jeffrey continued as tears began spilling down the sides of his face. “There was a slight hill at the end of the bridge. I was so upset that I…I turned onto the ramp without waiting to see if anyone was coming over the hill first. As I turned, I heard this horn blaring at me. I dropped my phone and swerved onto the ramp, my car sliding into the guardrail. But…but the other vehicle wasn’t so lucky.”

  The muscles in Jeffrey’s face and lips quivered as he began to weep softly. “It was a bus! The driver tried to keep from hitting me and lost control. It…broke through the guardrail and…and fell onto the expressway. I watched in shock, not wanting to believe that it was happening. All I knew was that I had to get away from there. I took off and didn’t look back, paranoid that someone had seen me. Somehow, I made it to a hotel and spent the night there. But, I didn’t sleep. All I could see was that bus going over the rail.”

  Overcome by emotion, Jeffrey stopped momentarily. When he had regained enough control to speak, he continued. “I found out later that the bus had been full of kids coming back from some winter church retreat. Ninetee—” his voice cracked and he closed his eyes trying to fight back the wave of guilt. “Nineteen of those kids died that day because of me. Me, Rebecca. I killed them! Nineteen families lost their children because of me! And twelve others were seriously injured. One little ten year old girl was…paralyzed.”

  Jeffrey looked down at his shattered body and sighed. “No one ever knew that I was the one to cause the accident, and I was too afraid to turn myself in. Well, justice has now been served. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t been tortured in my soul because of what I did. And now, I will live out the rest of my days being tortured in my body as well. It’s only fair.”

  Compassion filling her, Rebecca reached up to stroke his hair, but he pulled his head away from her. “Please don’t touch me. There’s…there’s more. After the accident, I was so scared, and I began to drink heavily for several weeks. During that time, Jaime came to talk to me. We began to fight again about…about the pregnancy. We were both worried that it would ruin our chances at finishing our degrees. But, more than that, I…I felt that I should not be allowed to bring a child into the world after what I did to other people’s children so…so I told Jaime she had to terminate the pregnancy.

  “She…listened to me and went through with it,” Jeffrey said. The blood drained out of his face, leaving his skin cold and clammy. “But it destroyed her. She began drinking and doing drugs. Before long, she dropped out of school altogether and went back home. I never found out what happened to her after that.”

  Numb with shock and pain, Rebecca sat unmoving, her expression unreadable. Since she was unable to have children herself, she had always been particularly sensitive about the issue of abortion. Finding out that her own husband had encouraged
another woman to kill his own child sickened her and made her want to scream at him in rage. Praying to God for help, she tightened her grip on the bed until her knuckles began to ache.

  “So you see, Rebecca, I didn’t want to believe in God,” Jeffrey said softly. “I bought into the doctrine of evolution, not so much because I believed it, but because the alternative was too unbearable to think about. For if there was a God, then I would certainly not be worthy of His love. I deserve to go to hell.”

  She knew she should say something to him, but her emotions were too raw to be trusted. Seeing the pain in her eyes, Jeffrey felt the weight of his guilt increase.

  “Then, when you became a Christian, I knew that our marriage wouldn’t last,” he stated. “I couldn’t stand to be around you because you were a constant reminder that someday I’d have to account for what I’d done. And so…so I turned away from you. Oh God, I betrayed the woman I loved!”

  Sobs wracked his body. Covering his head with his arms, Jeffrey moaned loudly. “I destroyed Jaime’s life, I destroyed the life of my unborn child, I destroyed the lives of those children on the bus, I destroyed Lisa’s life, and I’ve destroyed your life! I deserve to die! I deserve to be judged!”

  Moved to compassion, Rebecca bowed her head and wept as she prayed. Long minutes passed with neither one speaking. Jeffrey’s remorse eventually evaporated, leaving him drained and exhausted. Placing her hand on his arm, Rebecca spoke, her voice quivering. “Jeffrey, I’m…I’m glad you told me. I wish I could simply tell you that none of this matters to me, but that wouldn’t be the truth. I need some time to process this. However, I will tell you that I know that God has always known what you did, and He is willing to forgive you.

  “That’s the main thing that sets Christianity apart from all other religions,” Rebecca continued. “They teach that mankind has to earn salvation. But, Christianity teaches that ‘all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.’2 ‘There is no one righteous, not even one.’3 God’s forgiveness is a gift, Jeffrey. We can’t earn it. While Jesus hung on the cross, He forgave the very people who mocked Him, beat Him, and put the nails in His hands. If He could forgive them, surely He can forgive you.”