INFERNO (New Perdition's Gate Omnibus Edition)

by James Somers

  A huge tiger shot up through a trap door in the arena floor right in from of Jason’s cage. The beast looked back at him and the others in the cages. However, it soon spotted the little family huddled behind the man in the middle of the arena. Those nearby in the cages were quickly forgotten as the beast prowled closer to its victims.

  It watched the man with his sword, sizing up the fight before pouncing upon its prey. Jason watched the man as well. He didn’t look like someone who had done much fighting in his life. He was holding the sword all wrong, brandishing it in front of him while the shield was barely considered.

  Chloe was sobbing next to him in her cage adjacent to his. Jason and Solomon were both screaming at the top of their lungs. “The shield! Use the shield to guard your blade and body!”

  But the crowd was far louder in their bloodlust.

  The tiger circled the family as the man tried to maintain his position between the beast and his loved ones. Several times he tried to yell at the beast and swing his sword. But the tiger only growled its annoyance at him, continuing to circle impatiently.

  Finally, the tiger decided to strike. It lunged at the man. He raised his shield purely on instinct and was batted down to the ground by a massive paw. The tiger bypassed the man and leaped toward the defenseless mother and children instead. The mother took the full force of its attack trying to shield her children. The tiger had its first victim, beginning to drag her away across the arena floor.

  The husband screamed furiously as he got to his feet. He ran after the beast, which attempted retreat. But the woman’s husband was in a grief-stricken rage at this point. As he jabbed at the tiger with his sword, he dropped the shield. The tiger quickly had enough and leaped upon him in defense. The sword was batted away as dagger like claws tore the man’s upper body open.

  The two children, both small boys, were crying, huddled together in terror where their parents had left them. The tiger noticed them as they decided to run. It was over quickly—punctuated by the cheers of thousands.

  Jason wept, sitting upon the floor of his cage. “How could they do that to children?” he asked himself.

  Solomon replied from the cage beyond his daughter’s. “This is what sin has done to mankind,” he said. “No wonder the Lord will soon destroy this place.”

  Chloe was still sobbing.

  “You mean Revelation seventeen and eighteen?” Jason asked. “When will it come?”

  “We do not know, exactly,” Solomon said. “But we are fast approaching Armageddon. I’m frankly surprised it hasn’t happened already. Either way, we won’t be alive to see, I’m afraid. Before you woke, one of the guards told me they mean to put us in the games today.”

  “Solomon, I’m sorry,” Jason said. “I just don’t understand it. I felt so sure that the Lord was sending us here to find Hatter.”

  Solomon sighed. “Don’t blame yourself. We came of our own free will…you didn’t want us to come with you.”

  Jason sat staring out into the arena as the tiger was driven back out of the arena through a gate by its handlers. Its hunger sated, it would be of little use for the time being. The animals were no doubt starved a bit in order to have them so ready to attack armed opponents.

  Jason found that he couldn’t look at Chloe. Because of him, she might soon die. The guilt gripped him so that he felt suffocated.

  The crowd had grown restless already. A faceless announcer was telling them that the best was yet to come. Jason could only imagine what that might mean for them. Chloe shuffled up against the bars separating their cages.

  “My father is right, Jason” she said. “It wasn’t your fault. I wasn’t going to let you come without me.”

  Jason looked at her, but couldn’t say anything. A lump the size of a baseball was lodged in his throat. He still felt the weight of guilt at causing them feel that they should come. He knew Chloe and Solomon had only been trying to protect him.

  “The truth is,” Chloe continued, “I couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to you…of losing you.”

  Jason reached out his hand, through the bars. Chloe took it in her own. “That’s why I feel so bad,” he said. “I’ve brought this on you. I didn’t want anything to happen to you. I can’t stand the thought of it now.”

  Chloe tried through her tears to smile. “Crazy isn’t it…that we should just be admitting this stuff now?”

  Jason nodded. “The truth is, if we had had more time, I might have asked you to marry me.”

  Chloe gripped his hand tightly. “I might have said ‘yes.’”

  INTERCEPTION

  Alfred had gotten lucky. By the time he had gotten to the New Rome Security Wall, only a day had passed. Now within miles of his master’s signal, Alfred had been able to pinpoint his whereabouts more succinctly. Strangely, he and the others had been take to the exact location that Jason had been hoping to infiltrate in order to find Agent Mad Hatter.

  Atop the wall, Alfred had been lucky again. He had been spotted by several security robots, yet they were H3 Counterparts like those Oliver Theed had used to help guard the wall in Jerusalem. Alfred had destroyed these with as much ease as those sent against him by Solomon Gauge during his brief lapse in programming at Al Khazneh.

  Taking the form of one of the H3’s, Alfred had benefited from even more good fortune. A patrol helicopter had been left at the station. The vehicle was lightly armored and armed. The security station itself was manned by several more H3’s and two humans. Could this be any easier, Alfred thought?

  Ten more minutes of sneaking and fighting had secured him a rescue vehicle. Sitting in the helicopter cockpit, Alfred downloaded the schematics and operations manual from the computer. He activated the engine, ran through a quick checklist then lifted off.

  All too soon, they heard Wraith’s voice coming over the loudspeaker. He was announcing the next round of combat. “This time we have a special treat in store for you,” he said to the crowd.

  Jason prayed as hard as he knew how in that moment. “Please don’t let it be them…take me instead, please…not Chloe and Solomon.”

  “This man is a veteran of Babylon itself, a decorated war hero,” Wraith continued, “…and the infamous leader of the Christian Resistance! Welcome him to the arena with his daughter!”

  “No!” Jason cried.

  The cage doors before Solomon and Chloe raised electronically on cue. The cages themselves became electrified, driving them out into the arena under painful shocks.

  Jason was reaching through the bars that confined him, trying to get to Chloe. “Don’t go!”

  Solomon stood with her in the sand. “We have no choice, now. We have to get to the weapons, if we’re to have any chance, Chloe.”

  “How could the Lord let this happen, Solomon,” Jason pleaded, “Why doesn’t he do something to save us?”

  Solomon stared at him for only a moment. “He has already saved us, Jason…a long time ago.”

  Chloe ran to Jason’s cage, pressing against the bars. She kissed him. “I love you, Jason.”

  From the far end of the arena, a large gate opened. A pride of lions, all females, emerged looking for prey. Experience in the arena had taught them where to find it. The hungry lions, six in all, spotted Solomon and Chloe out of their cages and charged toward them.

  “We must get to the weapons!” Solomon yelled as he ran toward the middle of the arena where the weapons were scattered across the sand.

  “Go!” Jason said, urging her to at least arm herself. Tears were streaming down his face when she turned and ran after her father. He couldn’t bear to watch what was going to happen, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of them either, as if his hopes might be enough to save them.

  Fearing that he wouldn’t reach the weapons in time, Solomon raised his hands and roared maddeningly at the lions. A few came up abruptly in doubt of what they were facing. But the bravado gave them pause only a moment. Still, it had been enough.

  Solomon reached the
cache of weapons strewn across the arena floor. He picked up a bullwhip first then snatched up a sword. He kept running toward the oncoming lions.

  The first crack of his whip stopped the lions cold. A few backpedaled as Solomon charged. As the lead lioness presented her broadside, Solomon threw the sword. The three foot blade drove through the lion’s ribs just behind its foreleg. The lion stumbled and fell dead. The others scattered.

  Chloe followed close behind her father. She quickly retrieved a pike and shield—the same left discarded by the arena’s previous male victim. Jason was glad that Solomon had taken such care over the years to train his daughter the same way he had trained agents in the field like himself. At the very least they had a fighting chance.

  Still, that didn’t leave him with much confidence. What if they did win this round? Would Wraith feel gracious toward the victors and simply let them live? There was absolutely no chance in that. They would fight something until they died. That left him nothing but time.

  Then he remembered Alfred.

  Since his capture by the riders on the road, Jason had forgotten about the H7 not being with them. He could only hope the robot had managed to survive the rider’s attack on the convoy. “Alfred? Are you there?” He wasn’t sure if his auricular transmitter-receiver was even functioning.

  Five seconds passed with nothing but silence in reply. The lions had now loosely encircled Solomon and Chloe. He kept the whip cracking trying to hold them back while scooping up swords with his other hand. He threw one at another lion, wounding the beast in the belly. It ran. Death would no doubt take it later.

  A lioness charged Chloe. She managed to sidestep enough to deflect teeth and claws with her shield. As it passed she drove the pike down behind its shoulder. The great cat thrashed the weapon right out of her hand. It ran about thirty feet then collapsed.

  Solomon backtracked to where Chloe was standing, cracking the whip repeatedly to keep the lion’s at bay. Only three remained out of the six sent to devour them. Jason began to feel more hopeful.

  The cage next to Jason, on the other side, opened at the rear. A man tumbled inside with the help of several guards. The gate slammed into place again.

  “Hatter!”

  After having given up on ever finding his old friend again—now, here he was. Jason was speechless for a moment.

  “Jason? Is that you?” When his face turned toward Jason, he gasped. Both of his eyes had been put out. Hatter was blind.

  “What happened to you?” Jason asked.

  “Wraith had me arrested after our last mission…the one where you saved me in the robot factory. After I almost escaped, he took my eyes with a hot knife.”

  The groaning of the lions, as Solomon and Chloe pressed their attack, drew Jason’s attention back to the arena. Only one lioness remained and she appeared in no mood to attack at this point. Solomon and Chloe were actually chasing her to be rid of the beast as a threat.

  The crowd jeered and booed at them. They wanted blood spilt. They wanted Christians dying before their eyes, not winning the day.

  When the last lion was down with a sword thrust through its side, Solomon turned toward his daughter. She was smiling but wary. Chloe turned toward Jason with a bloodied sword in hand and her shield. Jason smiled. Chloe smiled in return. Then everything went terribly wrong.

  A gunshot resounded throughout the Coliseum. Solomon looked at his daughter as blood poured from an exit wound in his chest. Jason and Chloe cried out at once. Jason spotted Wraith with a rifle, standing before his seat looking through the scope. He had been robbed of his sport, and his lion’s had been killed instead. Wraith didn’t like to lose.

  Solomon managed a partial step before he collapsed. Chloe still hadn’t seen Wraith with the gun. She could only watch as her father fell to the ground, bleeding out onto the sand. She ran toward him and almost reached him.

  Wraith showed no mercy for her. Jason screamed as the assassin pulled the trigger again. The second shot was nearly as accurate.

  Chloe stumbled and fell a short distance from her father. She was still trying to crawl to him, but getting no closer. Her hand reached out one last time, clutching at sand, then she stopped moving altogether.

  Jason raged within his small prison. He kicked at the bars and screamed in his fury. Had Wraith been within reach, no force on Earth would have prevented him tearing the man limb from limb. He threatened as much. But it was all in vain.

  Wraith sat upon his throne laughing. Some of the crowd cheered the action. Others seemed disappointed that the Christians had not been allowed to fight against more beasts for their viewing pleasure. But that was as much as they cared for it.

  “Jason, how did they capture you?” Hatter asked from his cell. He had not witnessed the events in the arena—only Jason’s anger at what had been done.

  Jason remembered his purpose then—why he had come to New Rome at all. “We came looking for you—after Alfred received your S.O.S.”

  “I didn’t think the message made it through,” Hatter said. “I’d given up hope of ever leaving. You shouldn’t have come. Now you and your friends will die as well.”

  “I came to tell you about the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, Hatter,” Jason explained through his sobs. “All of these events have been foretold in the scriptures. You must receive Christ as your savior before it’s too late. When seven years has expired from the inception of Theed’s treaty with Israel, Christ will come to battle him at Armageddon and destroy the armies of the world gathered there.”

  Tears streamed down Hatter’s dirty cheeks. He started to laugh. “I wondered if you had been saved, Jason,” Hatter said. “I thought probably that you had, since you were in the company of the Christian Resistance, but I didn’t know. I’ve only hoped.”

  “What are you talking about?” Jason asked. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Chloe and Solomon lying dead on the arena floor.

  “Jason, while I was in prison, a man named James—imprisoned as a preacher of the gospel—told me about the Lord. About his death for my sins and salvation through faith in his name. After my eyes were taken, I turned to the Lord in faith. I’m a believer.”

  WRATH

  Jason sat in stunned silence for a few minutes trying to take in what Hatter had told him. Hatter was saved. Relief for his friend’s soul fought with the agony of losing two people he had come to love as closely as anyone he ever had. But he knew, ultimately, that they were safe with the Lord.

  Hatter began to speak, but he was interrupted by the doors of their cages opening simultaneously. Jason practically leaped out of his prison. Hatter crawled out, needing Jason’s help to clear the cage and stand. “I guess our time has come,” Hatter said.

  “Apparently,” Jason said. He led his friend toward the fallen bodies of Chloe and Solomon near the middle of the arena. He stopped to check Chloe for signs of life, but she was truly already dead.

  “I’m ready to join them, Lord,” he whispered as he stood again.

  Wraith was smiling upon his throne, preparing to call for more beasts, or something equally vicious to satisfy his appetites and that of the restless crowd. Strafing gunfire suddenly blazed through the arena stands as a helicopter flew in over the high rim of the Coliseum. The insignia for New Rome Security was emblazoned upon the side of the chopper.

  Wraith erupted from his seat, shouting orders, but the helicopter swung down inside the Coliseum, firing its mounted mini-gun, drowning out the cries from the crowd and Wraith’s commands. Jason watched in astonishment as Alfred came into view piloting the craft.

  With the Coliseum attendees now stampeding for cover from the unexpected attack, the helicopter descended nearly to the ground. Jason needed no further cues. He pulled Hatter toward the security chopper and ushered the blind man inside. Alfred was already wrenching the controls into takeoff by the time Jason got the passenger door closed again.

  The sky was boiling overhead. Thick clouds churned around them as the helicopter took
to the air. Flashes of light filled the sky as Jason and Alfred looked toward the heavens. They saw streams of fiery debris, as though from an erupting volcano, falling through the clouds.

  “Alfred, can you maneuver through it?” Jason asked frantically. Solomon’s warning about coming judgment on New Rome filled his thoughts. He realized what was happening.

  “I’m hopeful, sir,” was Alfred’s reply. “The instruments indicate a dangerous rise in electromagnetic activity.”

  Jason settled back into his chair, his thoughts an open prayer for the Lord’s will to be done.

  Hatter sat behind them unseeing but concerned. “What’s happening? Are we going to make it.”

  “I don’t know,” Jason said.

  Wraith stood in the stands watching the stampeding crowd. The helicopter rose into the air, making its way over the Coliseum wall. He cursed his misfortune.

  A rope of fire and rock slammed into the far wall of the arena, instantly engulfing thousands still trying to get to safety from the helicopter attack. Wraith looked to the sky, the red jewel embedded in his forehead gleaming against the approaching blaze. He began to scream only to be incinerated before the sound escaped his mouth.

  Alfred fought the controls of the security helicopter as high winds lashed at them. Streams of fire and stone filled the sky around them, blazing trails from the heavens all the way to the massive city below.

  Jason looked on through the cockpit window in awe of the sight. None of his scriptural studies with Solomon and Chloe had prepared him for what he now saw. The words on the pages, though powerful, had not carried the impact of seeing it occur first hand. Below them, the ground of the city was buckling as tremors rent the streets and buildings, bringing huge structures down even as the fire set them ablaze. Smoke filled the air before them as the onslaught grew in intensity.