The Days of Elijah, Book One: Apocalypse: A Novel of the Great Tribulation in America

by Goodwin,Mark

  Everett made his way out to the front and surveyed the carnage as he waited for Courtney. Elijah followed him out and over to the bed of the truck.

  Everett looked in the back of the pickup. “Oh great. Look at this. They cut the wires to steal the ham radio.”

  “Wires can be spliced much easier than a radio can be replaced.” Elijah looked at the cans, boxes, and buckets of storable food in the back of the truck. “I believe it was a divine act that you were able to prevent them from stealing your means of communication.”

  Everett picked up the contents of the box that the man was carrying when he shot him. “This guy was stealing my coffee. Now that’s divine intervention!”

  Courtney soon joined them. “What are we going to do with the bodies?”

  “I don’t know, bury them I guess.” Everett continued to pick up the food items that had rolled away when the box was spilt.

  “You’ll have a hard time digging graves by hand.” Elijah stomped his foot twice. “The ground is still frozen for one thing. Another thing, this high up in the mountains, about half the time you dig, you’ll hit rock before you get to six feet deep.”

  “Do you have any suggestions?” Courtney asked.

  “Birds have to eat,” Elijah said.

  She protested, “Oh, gross! I’m not leaving these guys lying around here to rot and get eaten by the animals!”

  Everett thought about digging three graves, in frozen ground, high in the mountains. “We could drag them down in the forest where we wouldn’t smell them or see them. We never go hunting down the mountain anyway. We always stay as far away from town as possible.”

  “Better yet, string them up a tree on the road coming up from Woodstock. Hang a sign around their necks saying, ‘Looters will be shot on sight.’ It will deter similar incidents. Perhaps it will save the life of someone else contemplating coming up here to make a bad decision.” Elijah stood with his arms crossed.

  Courtney made a face of disgust. “I don’t know. It sounds so nasty.”

  Everett was certain that he did not want to dig those graves. “I agree with Elijah. It’s practically a public service.”

  “You guys take care of the corpses and I’ll get the groceries put back on the shelves. What do you say?” Courtney took several food items from the back of the truck.

  “I’m not leaving you here by yourself,” Everett said firmly. “Ride with us and stand guard. Elijah and I will string up the bodies.”

  “Maybe you should ask him, before volunteering him.” Courtney nodded toward Elijah.

  “I’ll assist you. It helps to make my home safer as well.” Elijah helped Courtney bring in more things from the truck.

  “Okay, that’s the plan. You guys get the truck bed cleaned out and I’ll find some rope. Then I’ll figure out which one of these geniuses has the keys and we’ll load them in the truck bed.” Everett started walking around to the shed in the rear of the cabin. “But we’ll have to hurry if we’re going to be done in time to listen to the address at five.”

  Everett retrieved the rope and tossed it in the back of the truck. He dropped the tailgate and tried to figure a way to load the first corpse without getting blood all over his clothes. He resigned to the fact that he was probably not going to be able to accomplish such a lofty goal. “At least I don’t have to dig a hole.”

  “Let me help you load him in the back.” Elijah assisted Everett getting the first body up into the bed, then the second.

  “The other one is up in the woods. We’ll have to drag him down to the drive.” Everett looked at the blood all over his hands and jeans. The two men found the third body and each took a hand to pull him down the hill. Once he was loaded into the back, Everett, Courtney, and Elijah got into the cab of the truck.

  “What do you think of my sign?” Courtney held up a cardboard sign which read, “Looters will be shot on sight.”

  Everett glanced over. “The font looks like something you’d use for a birthday party sign.”

  Courtney huffed. “It’s going to be hanging around the neck of a dead guy with birds eating his eyeballs out. I doubt anyone is going to mistake it for a birthday party.” She looked back down at the sign. “Unless I put some balloons in the corner.”

  “No balloons!” Everett tried to stay focused on the road.

  A half mile down the road, Everett pulled to the side. “How’s this?”

  “Are we going to string them all up in the same place?” Courtney asked.

  Everett shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. Why?”

  “You know when you’re on the interstate and you’ll see a billboard, then a quarter mile later you see another one by the same company, then another one in another quarter mile? I think it’s effective messaging.”

  Everett shook his head. “Courtney, it’s not a marketing campaign.”

  Elijah interrupted. “I’ll agree the balloons would have been in poor taste, but in a way, this is a marketing campaign. We’re trying to let people know how we deal with thieves on this mountain. I’ll have to say, spreading them out would be, what did you call it, effective messaging?”

  Everett grunted his displeasure as he stood in the back of the truck and made several attempts to throw the rope over the lowest tree limb. Finally, it fell over the limb and hung just low enough overhead for him to grab it and pull it down.

  “Do you know how to tie a noose?” Elijah asked.

  Everett didn’t even answer, just handed the end of the rope to Elijah. In a few minutes, they had the first man strung up with Courtney’s well-crafted sign hanging around his neck. Everett proceeded down the mountain, this time watching for a lower limb. The second man was up in less time than the first. By the time they found the third low-hanging limb, they had a system worked out. Courtney hung the sign, Elijah tied the noose, and Everett hoisted the man up, tying the rope off around the trunk of the tree.

  “Four-thirty, I’ve got just enough time to get cleaned up before the radio address.” Everett spun the truck around and raced back up the mountain.

  The morbid task was finished and Everett was relieved to be done with it, but he dared not ask himself what more could happen before the day was over.

  CHAPTER 2

  I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.

  John 5:43

  Before Everett could even get cleaned up from moving the dead bodies, he had to bring water from the stream that ran alongside of the house. As he packed the two buckets, five gallons in each hand, he said to himself, “I’m going to dig a branch off of the stream tomorrow to bring water closer to the house. Hauling water four of five times a day is getting old fast.”

  Once he was cleaned up, he used the same water he’d washed in to soak the blood out of his clothing. The days of washing hands and letting water run down the drain were long gone.

  When he got back in the house, he asked Elijah, “Can I lend you a clean shirt? I can put your shirt in the laundry bucket with mine so it doesn’t stain.”

  Elijah waved his hand. “I’m fine.”

  Everett looked at the man’s shirt. He knew he’d seen blood on the front of it. Maybe not much, but some. However, as he stared at Elijah’s clothing, he couldn’t see one drop. How is that possible?

  Courtney peeked into the kitchen from the living room and said, “I’m warming up some venison stew in the fireplace and making some cornbread pancakes. Anybody want some?”

  “Yes, please,” Elijah said. “You’re blessed to have a wife that cooks.”

  Everett shook his head trying to signal to Elijah not to make an issue out of her cooking. Everett had made a wise crack about wanting a woman to cook for him when they’d first met and she’d never let him live it down.

  Elijah didn’t seem to understand Everett’s frantic attempt to reach him through code and signals, but dropped the subject, nonetheless.

  Everett tuned into the Global Republic news affiliate on the s
mall battery operated radio.

  An announcer stated that the station was broadcasting from the new press room in the recently-constructed Global Republic General Assembly Building, erected in the National Mall of Washington, DC. Global Republic Press Secretary, Athaliah Jennings, introduced Pope Peter. “Ladies and Gentlemen of the press, please offer your most reverent attention for the Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church, His Holiness, Pope Peter of Rome.”

  After a few moments of pious silence, the pope began to speak in English. “Dear Children of the Earth, today has been a trying day. Most everyone knows someone who has been affected by the disappearances. All of you are looking for answers. It is important that you not allow yourselves to be carried away by myths and superstitions, yet just as necessary, you will need to keep an open mind to understand what is happening. First, let me ask that you focus and bring your consciousness to a place of peace, from which we can rebuild, grow, and mature as a planet and as a global culture. The apostle Paul often spoke of the birth pains a new mother must endure to see her child. This present experience is not unlike those pains. But to see the miracle that is to come, we must persevere.

  “To the mothers and fathers whose children have disappeared, it was for the good of your offspring. And I promise you, by my throne in Vatican City, you will see them again. They have been taken to a place where they can learn to be the leaders of tomorrow and the citizens that will guide a new illuminated society to a place of harmony with the universe. They are also being preserved from a disruptive period that our planet is having to encounter, due to the poor stewardship of our species. Global warming, combined with seismic instabilities created by massive drilling and mining projects by the world’s carnivorous corporations, are going to cause massive challenges over the coming years and this will not be a welcoming planet, especially for the young.

  “I understand your hurt and your sorrow, and what must be all-but-unbearable grief at the perceived loss of your children, but trust that they are in good hands.

  “Which brings us to the next topic. Where did they go and who is caring for them? The Vatican has sponsored and financed a massive cooperative enterprise between the SETI Institute, the Vatican Research Observatory Group, and the Mount Graham International Observatory. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence or SETI Institute has long been a pioneer in the scientific community to prove that we are not alone. I am pleased to be able to announce to you that, as your hearts will confirm, we are indeed, not alone in the universe. It has been many thousands of years since the beings from beyond our skies have been able to walk and live among us, but they have never been far away. Many have witnessed their comings and goings throughout the night skies across the globe and a fortunate few have even been in contact with them. But, for the most part, they have stayed back, watching from a distance. These Watchers, if you will, have often been referred to as angels, or visitors, even gods by some. We have seen their images inscribed on the walls of the pyramids, heard of their exploits in Greek mythology, discovered their places of visitation among the ziggurats of Central America and read of their contributions to the human race in the Book of Enoch. The Watchers have been instrumental to giant leaps in technology throughout the ages. And they have long desired to once again hold us by the hand, like younger siblings, and guide us into a glorious new age, a utopian existence like that of the fabled Atlantis.

  “This leads me to the next explanation. What happened to the adults that disappeared? Unlike the children, who have disappeared from every city, town, and country side around the world, the adults all had distinct commonalities. They clung to a rigid belief structure that would have prevented our species from being able to progress in a positive direction. Some who were influenced by their dogmatic rantings will tell you that it was Christ who came to gather his Church.”

  The pope paused to allow time for snickering in the press room. He let out a condescending chuckle himself before continuing. “Well, I’m still here.”

  More laughing could be heard from the members of the press. Then the pope continued. “For those in the Americas, this address will be followed by a short message from the new Global Republic’s Minister of the Americas, Richard Clay and world renowned megachurch Pastor Jacob Ralston. They will further assure you that the disappearances were not caused by the mythical rapture. For it was not Christians that the Watchers had to remove for us to move forward, but rather a cult-like subset of people who claimed to be followers of Christ, yet never practiced his compassion, tolerance, and acceptance of those around them. In the world we want to build, under the guidance of the Watchers, we have no room for hate, intolerance, and bigotry disguised as religion. We welcome followers of Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha, Baal, and Ahura Mazda. We invite the worshipers of Shiva, Ra, and Chango; many of these are the names assigned by earth dwellers to the very Watchers who have revealed themselves to us at our center on Mount Graham. We invite pagans, agnostics, and atheists to come together, recognize that we must all share this planet and coexist, and pledge ourselves to the universal good. There is room for everyone and every belief, but we must understand that we all seek the same force of good. The Watchers have done their part to cleanse our planet of those who could not turn from their hate and bigotry, now it is up to us to maintain this environment of peace and love.

  “Now I will unveil to you the most important of all the revelations today. Once, the Watchers walked among us, lived in our midst and even procreated with our species, creating the most beautiful, enlightened, and gifted offsprings. There is one such child among us now. Being of man, and of the gods, he is the perfect intercessor between man and gods. Through signs and miracles, he will prove to you that he is indeed this spectacle of grace of which I speak. Most all religions have prophesied of his coming. To the Jew, he is Messiah, to the Muslim he is the Mahdi, for the Buddhist, he is Maitreya, to the Hindu, he is Kalki, and to the Zoroastrian, Saoshyant. Whatever you call him, or even if you have never heard of such prophecies, he is come; come that we might have peace and have it more abundantly.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you this day, the being of whom I speak, the chosen one, His High and Most Prepotent Majesty, Angelo Luz. Please stand and bow your heads.”

  Everett looked over at Courtney and Elijah and shook his head in disapproval of all that he was hearing. He had so many things he wanted to ask Elijah, so much that he wanted to say in protest of what was happening and being said over the radio, but he dared not speak, fearing that he might miss some vital piece of information. His brief career in the intelligence industrial complex had taught him to listen if it had taught him nothing else. There would always be time for analysis, and distilling information once the data had been received.

  Luz began speaking. “Well, that was quite an introduction. Thank you very much, Your Holiness. Please, lift your heads.

  “To the citizens of the Global Republic, I ask for your understanding in having this information veiled from your eyes. While a great many of those in power have been aware of these mysteries, it could not be disclosed to the general public until the proper time.

  “As His Holiness explained, much of our secrecy was needed because of the immaturity of those who have been taken out of the way. Inevitably, some will blame me for the disappearance of their children because I am of the Watchers. But please understand, I am also of man and as such, these types of decisions belong to my father and are not mine.

  “Like you, I am simply here to do the will of my father. I mourn with you and feel your sorrow, but I ask that you trust me when I echo what the Holy Father has told you; it is for the good of the children and you will see them again. I can’t explain how proud you will be of your sons and daughters when they return with an understanding of how to treat one another as well as our mother earth. They will come home with a sense of spirituality and an education that they could have never received from this dimension. That level of consciousness and realization cannot exist while this pl
anet is in its present state, which is why I need a commitment from you to lay aside your grief, roll up your sleeves and get to work so we can prepare the world for their return. The harder we work to repair our society and our broken planet, the sooner the earth will be ready for the return of the children.

  “We must heal our mother, cleansing her from pollution, abuse and the exploitation of her resources. We must learn to love each other in peace, acceptance, tolerance, and unity. Only then will my father and the other Watchers trust that the investment they have made in the children is secure and that we are ready to receive the gift of their return.

  “Do not despair in the loss of those who have been taken, but rejoice in hope for the soon return of the children.”

  The broadcast cut and a GR commentator began going over everything Luz and the pope had said.

  Courtney was first to break the silence. “I don’t understand. I’ll admit, I kind of tuned Lisa out when she’d start talking about all of this end-times stuff, which is why I’m still here, but the little I learned from her doesn’t fit into what these guys are saying. All of a sudden, they’ve shifted the entire focus of the rapture to people waiting for the return of the children.”

  Elijah sighed, “False hope and a false sense of security, that’s been the enemy’s strategy from the beginning. He told Eve that she would be like God, all knowing, giving her a false hope. Then he assured her that she wouldn’t die if she ate of the forbidden fruit, instilling in her a false sense of security. If you are jumping out of an airplane with a backpack that you think is a parachute, you might feel quite secure. The goal of every major religion in the world is to convince people that their backpack is a parachute. But, the Messiah said, I am the truth, the way, and the life, no man comes to the Father except by me.”