ARCHANGELS FURY

by Moerland, Scott; Clarke, Marnie; Gaspandrei

  They were all assembled at a purpose-built installation in the Arizona desert free from the deadly virus. Long before the release of the virus, the president had ordered his generals to review psychological profiles of 2000 troops and support personnel to ascertain who could be easily persuaded and controlled to do his dirty work. The chosen troops had to be staunch atheists and have no immediate family. Some psychopathic tendencies were permissible but at any sign of rebelling against authority, the troop’s file was immediately discarded.

  The United States government was not the only organisation that had prior knowledge of these events. Secret societies had been set up in some of the Antichrist’s chosen locations around the world to prepare for the same eventuality. The Illuminati had been planning for centuries. Satanic cults also had a shrewd idea. One thing was for certain, these groups were not prepared for the reality that the New World Order was upon them. The Antichrist hated these groups of people as much as any other human and he would inflict hideous suffering on them without displaying any favouritism whatsoever.

  Within the secret location in Arizona the troops were carrying out safety checks on their biological hazard suits and weapons. These troops were kept separate from the world for six months with no communication to be trained as kill squads to work as a clean-up crew after the virus had done its deadly work. Through brainwashing and their own greed, they were convinced they were going to be the future rulers of the world.

  The demons were wearing military uniforms at the installation, as they were the leaders of the kill squads. Each squad numbered between eight and 12 men and one of the demons commanded each unit. The troops had been given extensive training in urban warfare and building close-quarter battle and they were about to be given their orders for the next 24 hours.

  As the troops congregated in a massive hangar, Sammael addressed them, employing more deception than he would have if he were speaking to the demons alone.

  “Men,” he said, “You have been chosen for your abilities and the President, who you will now address as God, has issued top-secret orders to have you training in what must be done to save humanity. Unfortunately you will have to kill people you may regard as innocent but you must look at the big picture. The President has already moved people who are going to repopulate the planet to safe locations, just as he has saved your lives. This blessing he has bestowed on you has not come unconditionally. You have been given a mark on either your right hand or forehead to show that you are on the right side. If you recognise this mark on anyone else then they are your brother or sister. Anyone else is the enemy. You all have been atheists all your life and that is why you have been chosen. You have not fallen for the world’s false religious doctrines but, as you have been shown over the past few months, there is a God and he is in direct command of you and me. He is the President, your God. In 24 hours we will clean our cities out and when the job is done you will move back into the cities and the repopulation of the world will begin. You people will essentially inherit the planet. Do your duty and do not fail or you will suffer the same fate as the rest of the planet!”

  As the men left the hangar the marks could easily be seen through the visors on the few gung ho soldiers who had decided to get the mark on their forehead. The mark read 666.

  Sammael knew the Antichrist, in reality, had not moved any citizens to safe locations. He needed the troops to help with the final annihilation and then he planned to kill them too. Sammael’s first order of business would be to set an example to anyone who decided to stay faithful to their religion. Within the next few hours he personally took a squad of soldiers to a raid on a major church. A few of the demons were aboard the alien spacecraft that was hovering over the area in the city. They instructed the Nephilim to turn off the EMP so with the flick of a dial on the spacecraft it was done. Filming of the church was now beginning. As the C130 Hercules aircraft flew over the top, a single squad led by Sammael parachuted out. Not needing any parachute, Sammael flapped his wings and flew down towards the church long before the kill squad landed on the ground. It was night time and as Sammael alighted outside the church he looked up and saw that it would be several minutes before the troops landed. He gazed at the church with contempt as he heard hymns coming from inside. The world’s electronics turned on simultaneously and the alien spacecraft beamed the footage to millions of television sets around the world. The Antichrist sat alone in his comfortable chair in the White House watching his television as the footage alternated between Sammael on the ground and the slowly descending kill squad. The camera settled for a while on Sammael, who could no longer keep his contempt in check. He started walking towards the church before the troops landed.

  The Antichrist knew that the demons could not get too close to the house of the Lord or God would punish them, so he jumped to his feet and screamed, “NO, YOU IDIOT.” Luckily for him, the Nephilim switched to what would happen when Sammael walked closer and then switched the live video footage back to the descending troops. The Antichrist sat back in his chair with relief.

  As Sammael walked towards the church, his skin began to burn and steam, the sensations intensifying with every step he took. As he crept closer and closer he looked to the sky and grumbled, “Do you think I can’t handle this? I’ve been to hell.” However, as he took another step towards the church he shook his head with rage, brushed himself off and retreated in defeat.

  Within 20 seconds the kill squad landed. They hurriedly packed their parachutes away and adjusted their biological warfare suits and breathing apparatus before advancing towards Sammael’s waiting figure.

  With a mere wave of Sammael’s hand the troops advanced in arrowhead formation towards the church before breaking into single file and storming inside.

  As Sammael watched from outside the church, the aliens streamed the footage all over the world to people who were still alive and weren’t too sick to watch. The gunfire erupted.

  The noise from the automatic fire drowned out the screams of the innocent people within. Eventually the firing died down and the kill squad retreated in formation. The live video footage then cut to the arch demon Ahriman.

  Pointing at the camera, Ahriman spoke with aggression and self-righteousness. “Your God has warned you people not to keep following false doctrines! A worse fate awaits anyone else trying to rebel!”

  The footage then cut out and all the spacecraft restarted their EMPs, rendering the planet’s electronics dead once more.

  CHAPTER 10

  THE VATICAN

  The Pontiff, now faithful and rejuvenated beyond his imaginings, called his staffers in. Some had already taken ill, and the Pope knew that just about all would soon show signs of the sickness and die, even he, but he was no longer afraid. He had had the Visitation – though the message was maybe not a good one for him personally – but he had a job to do: he must save Christianity. His fate was not even worth considering – there was no time.

  The EMP had blocked all modern microwave communications but a Swiss Guard had an idea: the Vatican had a fax line still using a landline connection to the outside world. He had attached a telephone to it and they had managed to get through to some churches around the world. This phone was the only method of communication they had and the Pope had a message to get out there – an extraordinary message, one the Pope would never in his wildest nightmares have thought he would preach.

  The message was simple. Via this one link to the world, Vatican staffers were going to tell his priests and cardinals worldwide to tell their parishioners not to come to church. Congregating would only spread the virus more quickly.

  There was just enough time to tell them to keep the faith. Thousands of calls were going to be attempted so the message had to be short. Staffers fluent in different languages were scheduled via roster to call every church that had a landline, from such far-away places as Tasmania and Iceland to African nations and the American Deep South. Wherever the call could be placed, the message would be the same:
send the parishioners home until further notice, stay away from others and fight off the evil with whatever weapons were available – the minor devils could be killed with bullets if you didn’t hit their wings. However, no human could match them in sword fights or hand-to-hand combat. Even the world’s best martial artists, boxers or military unarmed-combat experts would not stand a chance against them. Well-aimed, unexpected shots were man’s only chance against them. Even large-scale weapons would be useless as the demons could take flight. Sniping was the world’s best chance.

  Other religions, major and minor, did the opposite or nothing at all and for this they paid the heaviest of penalties.

  The Pope ordered his people not to leave their post. They slept, ate and died there. As the days passed, the phone was worn out and had to be replaced until the staffers eventually succumbed. Only when just a few were left and phones were not being answered did the message stop. None of the Pope’s men survived.

  The Pontiff didn’t pray over ensuing days – he had a speech to prepare, perhaps the most important in mankind’s history.

  ONE WEEK LATER

  Life at Jim’s property had become mundane. The group had settled into a routine of eating, sleeping, having barbecues, cleaning weapons and playing games. Everybody tried to block out their feelings of grief and despair and just be appreciative of what they still had.

  At every chance they got, they probed the angels for answers they would never have had the opportunity to find out if the circumstances weren’t what they were. The knowledge the group was able to obtain from the angels would have been priceless before the apocalyptic virus had been spread.

  The angels would randomly fly in and out of the property in different directions and return several hours later. One arch was always left behind to protect the group in case one of them was killed while hunting demons. If any of the archs were killed, the fallen would be able to see were Jim and his family were.

  As well as trying to locate the fallen, the archangels were busy homing in on dying humans and using their powers to heal as many as they could. Healing humans took a huge amount of power from the archangels and they could do it only a couple of times a day. The amount of time it took for an angel to recover after he had performed his miracle depended on how close the person was to death. The archangels were even resorting to accepting guidance from the non-physical world as they constantly had agonising decisions to make. Only the anger they felt towards the fallen could override the sadness they felt when deciding who to heal and who to let die.

  The stubbornness and defiance of people infuriated the fallen, even more so with the news that churches had now become safe houses. The pope’s early warning had indeed saved millions from catching the virus but that was now over.

  Most of the people who were now going to church had not been religious before the rapture. There were, however, still enough pastors and religious scholars in the world to spread the truth to people by word of mouth. Although these people were not raptured because of their lack of faith, they still had the biblical and theological knowledge to spread the truth to people.

  Jim knew that sooner or later they were going to have to go into town and view the devastation for themselves. He was not looking forward to seeing what awaited them. Michael, on returning from one of his trips, said to Jim it would now be safe for him and the men to venture into town. He explained to Jim the technical aspects of the virus and that he wouldn’t be able to catch it any more.

  “What are we going to see in there?” Jim said.

  “Nothing you can’t handle,” Michael replied. “Most of the virus has died out now. There are a lot of dead and decaying bodies and the virus can stay alive for a while in these bodies but because it is not being breathed into the air you will be safe.”

  “Yeah, well, we will wear our gas masks anyway!” Jim sighed. “OK, boys, you ready to go?”

  “I’ll get some weapons in case,” Bondy replied.

  Dillon wasn’t in any hurry, knowing what he was about to see, but he reluctantly agreed.

  “We will not be accompanying you,” Michael explained. “We have God’s work to do. If you choose to go and run into trouble we may not be able to get to you in time. Raphael will stay here with Melinda and the children.”

  Jim nodded to show he understood.

  As Bondy returned from their makeshift armoury he placed an array of weapons and supplies on the table in front of Jim, Dillon and Jack.

  The men had been in regular clothes for the past week and a half so Bondy and Jim began to put their police special operations overalls on as well as their knee pads, elbow pads, utility belts and Kevlar helmets. Dillon unfolded his marine camouflage uniform and put it on while Jack just stared at the weapons.

  Jim threw a utility belt to Jack and asked, “Have you ever used guns before?”

  Jack replied, “Yeah but nothing like these.”

  “Well you know how to be safe with them, don’t you? Like, never point it at someone and all that.”

  Jack picked up an M4 carbine. “Yeah but you may want to give me a crash course on this one.”

  “Dillon,” Jim said, “Did you wanna run through this shit with Jack? I have to go and talk to the wife before we go.”

  Dillon assented. “Yeah, no problem.”

  Eager to pass on his knowledge of the weapon, Dillon led Jack off the patio and to a tree that offered plenty of shade. There was nothing in their firing line but a hill in the distance, a creek and the open space of the barren, rugged landscape.

  Dillon began. “OK, this is the M4A1 carbine. It is a shortened version of the M16 assault rifle. It is a gas-operated, air-cooled, magazine-fed, selective fire shoulder-fired weapon with a telescoping stock. Fully loaded with 30 rounds it weighs 6.9 pounds or 3.1 kilograms for you Aussies. It fires a standard NATO 5.56mm round, it has a cyclic rate of fire of about 700-950 rounds per minute and it is capable of mounting a M203 grenade launcher on it. The M4A1 is especially favoured by counter-terrorist and special-forces units for close-quarters combat because of its compactness and firepower.”

  As Dillon ran Jack through the tabulated data and safety of his new weapon Bondy listened and checked his own gear. Jim went inside and sat next to Melinda and the kids on the lounge.

  “Are you OK?” Jim asked her.

  “Yeah, I’m OK,” she replied, looking at him searchingly. “Are you sure you want to do this? You know what you’re going to find, don’t you?”

  “I know, sweetheart, but I have to see it for myself. Besides, we are going to need some more supplies sooner or later anyway. We may as well get them now.”

  Jim hugged and kissed his wife and children and told the kids to make sure they behaved. He got up. “I love you,” he said to Melinda. “I love you too,” she replied. “Be careful.”

  THE TOWN

  Upon arriving at the outskirts of the town where they had bought their supplies and witnessed the rapture, Jim backed off his four-wheel-drive’s accelerator. Bondy, sitting in the passenger seat, double-checked to ensure his M4 carbine rifle was fully loaded, more out of nervousness than anything else. Figuring he had better do the same, Dillon fumbled around in the back seat and grabbed his rifle. He disengaged his magazine from the rifle, checked the rounds and slammed the magazine back in with the palm of his hand.

  Jack also fiddled with the M4, ensuring he left his finger clear of the trigger.

  The men weren’t expecting to have to use the weapons but, given the events of the previous month, they were understandably all on edge. They didn’t have the archangels with them now.

  Jim had slowed the vehicle down to about 20 kph as he crept into the main street of the usually busy town. Bondy was the first to attach his gas mask and the other three followed suit. Jim fixed his gas mask on with one hand and pulled the vehicle over with the other. The four men hesitantly disembarked. As they crept down the street, a feeling of complete hopelessness washed over them and they had to restrain themselves fr
om taking up defensive stances in response. The men did not know what they were even looking for.

  The silence was deafening. The only noise came from the occasional bird chirping and their own soft combat boot thumps as they walked through the groomed and tidy small town.

  Within a few minutes they found the first sign of what they knew was not even a fraction of what the world had suffered. Outside the Coles supermarket there was a bench; the corpse of a man was slumped over on it. The corpse was well into the decomposing stage. A park adjacent to the supermarket contained six other bodies. Jim felt relieved he had decided to wear the gas mask, not because of the virus but because of the foul stench that he had experienced from dead bodies in the past.

  The sound of Bondy’s voice was muffled by the visor on his gas mask as he suggested, “Let’s just do a quick sweep of the town, get some canned food and then get the fuck out of here!”

  The men quickened their pace. They were not surprised by the corpses that lined the town but instead by the amount of people who had obviously chosen to die outside rather than inside their own homes.