by Karl Morgan
A strange voice said, “Thank you both.” Bill and Faith noticed that two dozen soldiers were around them on their knees. “We prayed to God to save us. Thank you for answering our prayers. I am Sergeant Tom White. If you don’t mind, who or what are you two?”
“My God, Tom, it is you!” Bill exclaimed.
“I’m sorry sir, but how do you know me?”
“I guess we look pretty horrifying right now with the blood and all, but my name is Bill Watson. I used to work for you.”
“No, sir, I’m sorry, but you are not the Bill Watson I know, but we can talk about that later. We should get back underground. It’s not safe to be above ground after sunrise.” The soldiers helped them out of the bloody, carcass-ridden scene and inside the compound gate. They were led to a heavy steel door and down a long ladder into a series of tunnels. A few guards were left outside to protect the entrance to the secret compound.
They were given an hour to clean up after they arrived and were then taken to meet the section commander. Bill and Faith were given fatigues to wear while their normal clothes were cleaned and disinfected. Then a soldier collected them and led them to a conference room. All along the way, the soldier kept looking at Bill as though something was familiar about him. The soldier opened the door and the two walked inside. Sergeant White stared back dumbfounded. Another Bill Watson was seated next to him. “Well, this is unexpected,” the second Bill said. “I’m Captain Bill Watson, and I’m in charge of this section of Camp Bravo. Please have a seat.” When they were seated, he continued, “Well, I guess this begs the obvious question, sir. Who the hell are you and why do you look just like me? And by the way, what happened outside? I’m beginning to think Tom here is going nuts!”
Bill smiled and said, “Well, what we have to tell you isn’t going to make this any easier, captain. My name is Bill Watson too. Where I come from, Tom was my boss at the company we worked for.” The two soldiers exchanged worried looks. “Shawna, Tom’s wife, is a detective in San Diego. She told Tom about the impending nuclear attack on that city. My wife is named Audrey and we have a daughter named Sandi.”
The captain laughed and replied, “Next thing you’re going to tell me is that this woman is my sister, right?”
“No, sir, Mary Stewart is our sister. She started working with Tom and me the day before the nuclear attack. At the time, I thought it was odd she would start work . . .”
“Start working on a Friday,” the captain finished.
“Is Mary here too?” Bill asked.
“No sir. I have to assume she died in the nuclear blast. Tom called me that night to give her a ride, but I had taken a late flight to join my wife . . .”
“In Montana,” Bill finished. “Yeah, I considered that, but couldn’t find any available flights; not to mention the paranoia about 9/11. Please don’t feel guilty though. I think she survived.”
“Sir, with all due respect, it was a nuclear explosion. How do you think she survived that?”
“She survived for the same reason that Faith here and I were able to stop the enforcer army. Captain, Faith, Mary, you and I are not human.” The second Bill just looked back at him, unable to find words.
“Jesus Christ, will you listen to this guy?” Tom laughed. “Okay, I’ll bite. If you’re not human, what are you?”
“Tom, you saw with your own eyes. Did we look human out there? Would you or any of your men have survived and protected this place if we had not intervened?” Bill argued.
Faith patted Bill on the hand and smiled at the two soldiers. “I’m really sorry that this is so new to you guys, and I know it seems hard to believe, but Bill is correct. I am an angel of the Lord. Bill, well actually both Bills are the sons of Lucifer and the grandsons of God.”
“Shut up!” Tom gasped.
“This is too much for me to deal with,” the captain said. “I’ve got to be freaking dreaming. Please tell me this is some kind of joke.”
Bill took the captain’s hand and stared at him. The captain was too dazed to react. “Bill, I know this is hard, and believe me, it was just as hard for me. You didn’t have Mary to help you through this. It may sound stupid and unbelievable, but you have the power to protect all of these people. You are not like me. You are me. You are an immortal whom the enforcers can’t harm. You can end the madness and protect the people of Earth.”
Faith pulled the captain’s hand from Bill and held it lightly. A look of calm filled his face. “Bill, God loves you and so do I. You are not alone and we will help make certain you are ready for this. In the absence of my father or yours, you have been given dominion over this world. But it is critically important that you tell us a few things now.”
He smiled and asked, “What do you want to know?”
She released one of his hands and held Tom’s hand too. Now both men were smiling and seemed totally at peace. “Do you know where the enforcers came from?”
The two soldiers exchanged confused looks. Tom asked, “What’s an enforcer?”
“That’s what we call those horrible creatures that attacked your outpost. Where are they from?”
The captain replied, “We were told they came from the nuclear sites. The radiation affected most, including humans. Somehow a new species arose and spread very fast, almost impossibly fast. Before long, they had decimated the planet and began to consume each other. They say a female can give birth to hundreds of offspring each year. Soon, they forced us to seek shelter underground. There aren’t that many people left around the world. We do what we can to survive another day.” He blinked and looked up at her. “You think I can stop this?”
She reached across the table and kissed his forehead. “No, captain, I don’t think you can; I know you will stop this. Bill and I will help you.” He smiled meekly back at her. “Second question, where are their main nests?”
The captain visibly shuddered at the thought. He looked at Tom, whose head was dropped and his eyes were tearing. He glanced at Bill and Faith and relaxed when he saw they were smiling at him. “Our president says there are concentrations of those things in Las Vegas, Paris, and Beijing. Our satellites showed the group that attacked here came from Las Vegas, about a hundred miles from here. I don’t know about the other locations. I’m just grateful to be alive here.” He looked at Bill and asked, “Can I really do what you did to those bastards?” Bill nodded and grinned broadly.
Gaius was distraught and confused. When he realized the enforcers had been controlling him, he wondered how much of his life and reign had been his choice or theirs. After a terrible sleepless night of tossing and turning, he rose early and headed down to the deepest prison on the planet, built and fortified for its single guest. He had ordered Julius to post a dozen other demons at the entrance to the sole elevator that could reach this place, and then went down alone. Somehow in the back of his mind, he believed his father has escaped and was the controller behind the enforcers. He expected to find the cell empty and feared what it would mean if it was.
After the twenty minute ride to the bottom of the one hundred mile shaft that connected the palace to Cell One, the door slid open to absolute darkness. Lights began to activate around the passage encircling the cell. He stepped out and allowed the door to close and then put his palm against the pressure pad to seal the car here so he could not be disturbed. The inner wall of the passage held large windows every few feet. The material was mirrored on the inside so the prisoner could not see who was monitoring him. Heavy steel panels blocked all the windows to deny any light or comfort to the prisoner. Gaius hurried all around the circumference, checking for signs of escape, but returned to the elevator door having found nothing. He could feel his blood pressure rising as the fear that his father was gone began to overwhelm him. The stifling heat this near the mantle caused him to sweat heavily. “Nothing else I can do now,” he muttered to himself. He pressed a button next to one of the windows and the metal plate began to sink into the wall. After a few seconds, only more inky darknes
s was visible inside. He took a deep breath and pressed a second button, which turned on a harsh single light at the peak of the dome-like ceiling inside.
Lucifer looked like death. He was curled in the fetal position on the small metal bed and began to stir with the intense light. His frame was emaciated and his skin was so pale as to seem translucent. He rolled over painfully and sat up. He coughed, stood up tentatively and walked over to the small sink and filled his metal cup with water. He drank it down and then flung the cup at the mirror that Gaius was standing behind. It bounced off and fell to the stone floor. “What do you want, Bill?”
Gaius pressed another button turning the mirrored surface clear and screamed, “How did your enforcer inhabit my body, old man?”
“What the hell are you jabbering on about?”
“Don’t lie to me! I know it was you! Who else would do such a heinous thing?”
Lou began to laugh as he walked over and picked up his cup. He went back to the sink and filled it again and then sat down on the bed. “I always thought you were smarter than that, Bill.”
“My name is Emperor Gaius Claudius Caesar, old man! You should not mock me with that child’s name.”
“Oh, I’m so scared!” Lou laughed.
“I could kill you, Father!”
“Then do it!” he screamed back. “You think dying would be worse than this? Besides, we both know we are immortal. You can no more kill me than I you.”
“That’s where you are wrong! I’ve killed hundreds of angels and witnessed dozens of my siblings killed by them. Now tell me about the beast named Proctor before I send you to join them in death!”
“Angels and demons have died? Are you serious?” Lou asked. Gaius only smirked at him. “Son, you have to know that isn’t possible; at least I never considered the possibility. Please tell me more about this creature named Proctor.”
“Don’t play games with me, Father; I know it had to be you. Who else could do such a thing?”
“This is fascinating! Are these enforcer things immortal too?” A look of fear crossed Gaius’ face as he shook his head slowly from side to side. “Mortal creatures inhabit and control you and your brothers? How can that be?”
Gaius asked, “You really didn’t do it?”
Lou smiled and replied, “Son, if I could do that, I would have gotten myself out of this place long ago. Why would I allow myself to suffer here for so long? Gaius, please tell me about the creature Proctor?”
The emperor told him how the enforcers had appeared through a hole in space-time between their reality and this one. Immediately, they swore allegiance to him and began aiding him in conquering the planet and convincing his siblings to imprison their father. Those who refused were slaughtered. Then they turned on the angels and even imprisoned their father. Once this planet was under his control, the enforcers opened doorways to other realities to add to the empire. In those realities, they began to find more Bill Watsons and Mary Stewarts. The enforcers convinced the emperor to destroy them before they could return the favor, until they arrived in yet another reality where the angels and demons had joined forces against them. Now his brothers and the enforcers were guarding all the passages to that realm until the two membranes of the multiverse separated.
When he had stopped, Lou stood and walked over to the window and stood before his son. “Son, you need to release me. Only my brother and I can stop this.”
Gaius laughed and replied, “You must be joking. If you escape, you will punish my sister and me and destroy everything we’ve done. I’m not a fool.”
“Gaius, I swear I will not punish you or Maggie. You must realize it is not possible for a mortal beast to enter and control you. It is also impossible for an angel or demon to be killed, except possibly by your uncle, but he would never do such a thing. Something more heinous and evil than either of us can imagine is happening. I don’t think you can handle what will come next.”
Gaius pounded his fist against the glass and shouted, “I’m not a fool!” He pressed two buttons and the light in the cell turned off and the metal plate slammed into place. He stepped over to the elevator, opened the door and stepped inside. “I’m not a fool,” he murmured again as the door closed and the car began to rise.
After a few moments, the same voice that spoke to him in the kitchen said, “Hello, brother.”
Gaius spun around and saw a strange man in the car with him. “Who are you and how did you get in here?”
“I know I left my father’s house before you learned of your parentage and I apologize for that. My name is Moloch, and I am your brother.”
Gaius had backed up against the elevator door and was breathing heavily. “I have never heard your name. You’re lying!”
Moloch smiled and threw his arms around his brother, hugging him close. “I am so sorry for not being there, brother, but I am here now.”
“Let go of me!”
Moloch looked up to the white enforcer clinging to the roof of the car and mouthed the words, “Don’t fail me again.” The beast jumped down and disappeared inside the emperor’s body.
Gaius was alone in the elevator car again. He inspected the entire car but could find no sign of an exit. After a few minutes, he began to think it had been a delusion brought on by his father. By the time the door opened, he had forgotten the incident completely.
Julius was standing outside waiting for him. “Brother, is everything okay down there?”
Gaius was smiling as he said, “Yes, all is well in Cell One. The prisoner is near death, which will solve another problem for us.”
“Yes, master, what are your orders?”
“I want the Place of Desolation restored to its former glory as a sign to others of our power. I want all the graves exhumed and the greenery destroyed. Any remains that are still intact should be crucified again, and the bones of the others should be used to begin building a pyramid larger than Giza.”
“Master, you mentioned before that you did not wish to further enrage any remaining angels.”
“I must have been crazy when I said that. It is all so clear right now. I want them to be enraged and I want the citizenry to protest and rebel. Then we will have more enemies to crucify. Get on it right away!”
“Of course, milord, it shall be done immediately!”
“Also, I want an audience with my sister as soon as possible and I want to meet her new slave girl.”
“I shall order Drake to arrange it immediately,” Julius replied. “Would you like to see them at the same time?”
“No, I think not. I think I would prefer to meet my sister now, and perhaps have dinner with the slave girl in my quarters. If she is a pretty as Lucius claims, perhaps I will keep her for myself.”
Julius smiled and winked at his brother. “I will take care of it personally.”
Bill and Faith, both in angelic forms, flew high above the desert toward Las Vegas and the nest of enforcers. They flew up and over the last range of mountains between them and the city, which they could now see was in ruins. A few shattered hotels remained, but it appeared the city had been obliterated by a nuclear bomb. “Oh my God, that’s terrible!” Bill exclaimed.
“Yes, but it’s also different,” she replied. He looked over at her quizzically. “Don’t you see, what happened in each reality is a bit different. That’s why you can be an accountant, Seventeen can be a cosmologist, and Gaius is an evil dictator.”
“But what about your father and the secret elevator?”
“Bill, surely you know my father’s office was never in some hotel?”
“Oh yeah, it was in orbit.”
She smiled and said, “Something like that. We should land and check things out. I certainly don’t see any enforcers from up here.” They landed at the southern end of The Strip and began to walk north. It was hot today and they could see heat waves rising from the desolate surroundings. After a mile of nothing but rubble, sand, and tumbleweeds, she said, “It’s strange. I don’t see any enforcer
s. Do you think we killed them all in the fight?”
“No. They are definitely here. I can feel them watching us and I can smell them too. There have to be millions of those things nearby.”
“Where do you see them? And I don’t smell anything.”
“I can’t see any, but I know there are lookouts in the hulks of the hotels keeping an eye on us. Also, come over here,” he replied as he led her into the street. He walked up to a manhole cover in the middle of the street and squatted next to it. He pointed at it and said, “Look carefully at that thing.”
She squatted next to him and suddenly her eyes popped open wide. “Shit, that thing’s vibrating, and I’m starting to smell them too. I’ve fought a lot of them on my home planet and I had almost forgotten that stench.”
He put his hand on her knee and said, “Faith, I want you to be very calm. We have to remember that these things cannot kill us.”
She smirked and replied, “I know that, Bill.”
“I don’t know why, but I can sense all the sewers in the city, and they are packed full of enforcers. They were waiting here for us.”
“But you said they couldn’t kill us, right?”
“Faith, the angel Faith from my reality and I found your father and sister Prudence in a dungeon in a tunnel not unlike this one. I think the Dom from this reality and the one where I found the other Bill Watsons are in a dungeon below The Strip, maybe right under our feet.”
She stood and drew her swords and said, “Let’s go get them!”
He stood and sighed. “Faith, we will try. I just have the feeling that I need to go there alone.”
“There is no way I am going to leave you alone. Two of us are better than one. If by some chance they kill me, it will have been worth it.”
Bill had changed into demonic form and was holding battle axes in each hand. “Faith, I love you.”
“I love you too, Bill. Is everything okay?”
He shook his head slowly and replied, “It has begun.” All the manhole covers and sewer grates within two miles blew off and flew hundreds of feet into the air as an incalculable horde of enforcers surged out of the sewers to attack. Thousands more emerged from crumbling buildings and raced into the street. Bill and Faith stood back to back as they approached. “Stay away from the manholes, Faith. They want us there!” He rushed at the enemy swinging his weapons wildly. Faith flew a few feet off the ground swinging her blade and slicing the enforcers to pieces. Within seconds, he was enveloped in a cocoon of enforcers and could barely move. He pulled in his arms and began to spin and the mass of creatures spun with him. He stopped suddenly but the enforcers continued spinning. He moved his blades up and down, chopping thousands to death. The remainder moved back a few feet to reconnoiter. He and they were drenched in the blood of the dead and dying.