Over my body I could feel sheets or blankets, and with my fingers I could feel some sort of object strapped to my nose with tape. Oddly, I could feel little pain. I tried to remember what had just happened; I started to recall the events that took place just before losing consciousness. The memories of the nuclear power plant, of driving to the church, and the gunshots being fired at the van raced through my mind.
Oh my God, Jennifer had been shot!
I quickly tried to sit up, but I felt a wave of dizziness hit me. The whole world felt as though it was spinning, and I collapsed back onto the mattress.
“Anyone!” I said, trying to call out for help. However, my mouth was dry and my voice was weak. I waited, but no one responded.
Lying on the bed for several minutes, I tried to figure out what was going on. I must surely still be in the church. Someone must have taken care of my broken nose as well. But why was no one around?
Slowly, I sat back up. This time I was not overcome with vertigo. I put my feet on the floor, and with my bare feet I could feel the cold, hard surface of a hardwood floor. Gingerly walking across the room, I flailed my arms about trying to feel for a light switch or a door knob, and finally came across a wall.
Suddenly, a door opened and a light switch was flicked on.
The light blinded me. I felt like one of the freaks. They would roam around in the daylight with their eyes fully dilated, just like me now.
“He's up!” I heard a woman’s voice call out.
“Let's get you back into bed,” I heard the voice say to me.
I was guided back to the cot, and I collapsed onto it.
I couldn’t recognize the voice, and my eyes were still not adjusted to the light.
“I'll take it from here,” I heard another woman say. “You can go now.”
“Just relax, Hank” I heard a voice say, as I felt something being wrapped around my upper arm. “I'm going to take care of you.”
I felt a pressure increase on my upper arm, and I realized my blood pressure was being taken. As my eyes started to adapt to the light, I could see Candy Beetle's face.
“Your blood pressure is a bit low, but it's improving,” she said. “I need to check your pulse.”
I felt Candy grasp my wrist as her perfect skin, attractive face, and gorgeous red hair mesmerized me for a moment.
“How many fingers am I holding up?” she asked.
“Three,” I said.
“Good,” she responded.
I saw her reach towards a small table beside the cot and bring a small glass of water up to my face.
“Here,” she said. “Take a sip.”
I quickly took a sip, and then proceeded to guzzle down the reminder of the water.
“Lean back,” she instructed. “I need to talk to you.”
Reality then hit me, and I remembered again that Jennifer was mortally wounded.
“How is Jennifer?” I asked, my voice now stronger.
“I said lean back,” Candy ordered.
“Just tell me,” I said.
Candy then reached and pushed me back into the cot.
“I'm your nurse and you’ll do what I say!” she barked.
“Tell me about Jennifer!” I demanded.
“Hank, you’re weak. I want you to stay calm,” she said. “You have a mild concussion and you have lost some blood. I've put a brace on your nose and dosed you with pain killers. I don't want you moving around.”
“Jennifer,” I said again.
“You remember she was shot,” Candy asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Is she . . .”
“She’s alive,” Candy said.
I let out a sigh of relief as I felt Candy's hand against my forehead.
“But you need to know she isn’t in good shape. Most of the pellets didn’t penetrate too deeply into her, and they were not difficult to remove. However, one of them damaged an artery. I'm not a surgeon, but I did the best I could to repair it,” Candy informed me.
“Is she going to be alright?” I asked. I couldn’t imagine being without her, not after all we had been through together.
“If we were in a modern medical facility I would say yes, but the problem is that we’re not equipped here to give her a blood transfusion. She has lost a lot more blood than you, and I honestly don't know what’s going to happen,” Candy said.
“Can we take her to the relocation center?” I asked. “I'm sure they have a medical center there.”
“The trip there would probably kill her,” Candy said. “And I'm not sure they would even let us inside.”
“What do you mean?” I said. “I'm sure they would let us inside, as long as we were not infected.”
“The church patrols shot and killed the soldiers,” she said.
“Oh God,” I uttered. It was unbelievable news.
“We’re stuck here for the time being,” she said.
“I want to see Jennifer,” I said.
“I can't let you do that. She needs to sleep. If she’s disturbed I'm afraid it could kill her. I wish I had an anesthetic to give her, but all I have been able to do is give her pain killers,” she said.
“God no, please don't take her,” I started to pray as I closed my eyes.
“Hank, she’s still with us,” Candy said.
“I'll do anything God, just please, don't let her die,” I continued to pray.
“Hank, you need to stay calm,” Candy said firmly.
I opened my eyes and looked at her.
“You love her, don't you?” she asked.
“Yes, I love her,” I said.
“Then she’s going to need you to be alright,” Candy said. “You need to get back to sleep.”
“I'm okay; I need to know more about what’s going on,” I said.
“The church is secure, for now,” she said. “The bandits haven’t shown back up since we arrived.”
“I need to talk to Reverend Sikes,” I said. “I need to ask him to pray for Jennifer.”
“They’re already doing so,” Candy said. “They’re having a special prayer service in the sanctuary for her.”
“Good,” I said.
“You should know that the church folk are taking this pretty hard. They’re very upset about killing the soldiers, and they’re even more upset about shooting Jennifer,” Candy said.
“They ought to be,” I said.
“Now take another of these and get some rest. I need to go back and check on Jennifer,” she said.
“What is it,” I asked.
“A pain killer,” she said. “If you stop taking them that nose of yours is going to start hurting really bad.”
“Here,” she said, handing me a cup of water.
I took a sip of the water, put the pill in my mouth, and swallowed.
“I'm going to leave now, but I’ll be back to check on you soon,” she said.
“Please tell Jennifer I love her,” I said. “Even if she’s not awake, please tell her.”
“I will,” she said.
Candy turned off the light, and shut the door.
“God please help Jennifer survive,” I started to pray again.
Although I was not ready to have a relationship with Jennifer, I couldn’t bear to lose her. She meant too much to me.
I continued to pray and started to cry. I pled with God to preserve Jennifer’s life – I needed her with me. I couldn’t face carrying on without her.
I don’t know how long I cried and prayed for, but eventually fatigue overcame me and I drifted off to sleep and started to dream
Chapter 2
In the dreamscape I was sitting in a cloud with blue sky above and around me in all directions. Beneath me on the ground I could see the ruins of a city.
Touching the surface of the cloud, it seemed sturdy enough for me to stand up on, so I stood and moved closer to the edge to get a better look at the city.
“It's me, Katie,” I heard a voice say from behind me.
Turning around, I s
aw Katie and two other women standing only a few feet from me.
“It can’t be you, Katie, I saw you die . . .” I said. “You were infected in Sandy Hills and didn’t make it out with us.”
“It's me. You just saw my body die, my garment. This is my spirit,” Katie said, with a beautiful smile.
“So you're a ghost?” I asked.
“Yes, I suppose you could say that” she said, seeming somewhat amused.
“Am I really talking to you, or am I just dreaming?” I asked.
“You are really talking to me,” Katie said. “We have entered your dream.”
In an instant, Katie moved towards me. She wrapped her arms around me in an embrace.
“I've missed you, Hank,” she said.
“I've missed you too,” I said. “Things are so bad now.”
“I know,” she said. “We thought you could use a break.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Would you like to get away from the nightmare for a while?” she said.
“I don't want to leave Jennifer,” I said.
“You won't be gone long. Where we’re going time does not flow like on Earth,” she said.
One of the two women then stepped forward and approached me. She had long blond hair, longer than Katie's, and had a glow about her. She was clothed in a white dress that went down to her ankles.
“Are you ready to leave your body?” the woman asked.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Before I could speak, she touched my forehead.
Instantly, I was standing beside my body in the room at the church. The two women and Katie were at my side.
“Your heart has stopped,” the woman in the white dress said. “We can go now. When we return I’ll heal you.”
Above us I saw a dark vortex begin to open. At the end of the tunnel was a white light.
“Are we going to heaven?” I asked.
“No, I'm not allowed to go there,” the other woman said.
I could feel myself being pulled into the vortex. A moment later, we were all moving towards the white light. All around us, I could see stars. Somehow, I could zoom into the stars and see the planets orbiting them.
“This is amazing,” I said.
We started moving closer to the white light, and I could see an opening in the distance. I then realized I was thinking more clearly than I had ever thought in my life. A measure of knowledge flowed into my mind, and I knew the identities of the two entities I was traveling with.
Looking at my hands, I could see that a few scars – acquired while cutting meat at Grocery World – were now gone. Although I was not in a body, I could feel an energy and power greater than I had ever felt before.
“We have to go this way,” I heard Katie say.
We turned away from heaven.
Another vortex appeared, and we entered it.
In a split second, we were at our destination.
We were standing in an outdoor restaurant on top of a tall building in the middle of a beautiful, high tech city. There were flying vehicles zooming across the green sky, and I could see a river flowing through the middle of the city.
“Let’s get a table,” Katie said.
She flagged down a waitress, and we were taken to a table with a panoramic view of the city.
As I sat and looked around I could feel some of the knowledge that I had acquired from heaven start to fade.
“I know who you two are,” I said. “You're Five-Million-and-Four, the demon. And you’re Alicin, the angel.”
I looked at Five-Million-and-Four, and I saw her smile.
“It's nice to meet you, again,” she said.
“You look a lot different than the last time we met,” I said.
“I hated wearing that freak's body,” she said. “This is what I really look like.”
Five-Million-and-Four was very attractive. Her brown hair was long, flowing down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were also brown, and I couldn’t see a wrinkle or line anywhere on her face. However, unlike her sister Alicin, she wore tight, black leather pants and a low cut top.
“I have never heard of female angels, except on TV,” I said.
“God made female angels too,” Five-Million-and-Four said.
“Is this your true form?” I asked.
Suddenly, I remembered that they had another form as well, but my knowledge from heaven was slipping away rapidly.
“We have an additional form we can take,” Alicin said.
Looking around I noticed that everything seemed very real. I could feel the chair underneath me, and I could grasp onto the odd looking, three pronged utensil beside my plate.
“And how am I sitting on this chair if I’m not in my body?” I asked.
“This is your body,” Katie said.
“But on Earth spirits are not physical,” I said.
“We’re helping you manifest your spiritual body in the physical realm,” Katie answered. “One day you’ll learn how to do it on your own.”
“May I take your order?” I heard a waitress ask, interrupting our conversation.
“I'll take the zalooki salad, the fried salu, and two portions of nolos bread,” Katie said to the waitress.
The angel and demon ordered, and then Katie ordered for me.
“You’ll like the roast tarki, I promise,” Katie said.
“But do I even have a digestive system?” I asked.
“Of course you do, but it’s beyond anything you can imagine. I'm sorry that we were not able to bring you closer to heaven. If we had, you would know the answers to all these things,” she said.
For the next fifteen minutes we all talked. I learned that the Alicin and the demon had been friends ever since before Satan rebelled against God. Alicin was still upset with the demon, but she still loved her sister. I also learned that the residents of both heaven and hell were upset about what was happening on Earth. Billions of souls were entering the afterlife all at once, and it was creating chaos.
“Where are we exactly?” I asked.
“You’re on a planet approximately nine billion light years away from your home world,” the demon said.
“This is one of our favorite places to eat,” the angel said.
“So how do angels and demons get to hang out?” I asked. “Don't God and Satan have a problem with it?”
“They don't care as long as we’re off the clock,” Alicin responded.
A moment later the waitress arrived with our food. Her eight fingered hands carefully placed our orders before each of us.
“Thank you,” I told the waitress.
“You’re welcome, is there anything else I can get you?” she asked.
“I think I'm fine,” I said.
I watched as the waitress walked away.
“I would love to get to know more about this world,” I said.
“There are billions of worlds for you to learn about,” Katie said.
“Dig in,” Alicin instructed me.
I took the odd utensil and managed to scoop some of the roasted meat into my mouth. It actually tasted very good. The green, pasty noodle-like objects were also delicious.
We continued to eat and talk. I learned that they had been given orders to visit me, and that due to the special circumstances – the zombie apocalypse – they were even allowed to take me for a meal.
“Why would God want you two to come visit me?” I asked.
“Well, for one thing, God loves you. He knows you’re hurting physically and emotionally. According to him, you deserve this excursion. Also, he has a plan for you. His will for the Earth has been violated, but he wants to use you,” Alicin said.
“What about Satan?” I asked Five million and two. “Why does he want you here?”
“First of all, I'm also here to visit my sister. Secondly, he wants me to keep my eye on you,” the demon said.
“Does he want to drag me down to hell?” I asked.
“No, he actually
hopes that God can use you. He does not like what happened on Earth any more than God does,” the demon said.
“Why should I trust you?” I asked. “You’re a demon, and demons lie all the time.”
“You shouldn't trust me. I’m a liar. I have done horrible things. I'm an evil, despicable entity. But when it comes to this, I'm telling the truth, human,” the demon said.
“Is she telling the truth?” I asked Alicin.
“Yes, she is,” she said. “I know my sister. Right now, she isn’t lying.”
“So what does God want me to do?” I asked.
“I don't know,” the angel said.
“I need some guidance,” I said. “The world is a mess. My life is a mess. Jennifer, the woman I love with all my heart, is dying. What should I do?”
“Just do what you feel your heart and the Holy Spirit tell you is right,” the angel said.
“But for now, we’re going to have some fun,” Katie said.
After we finished eating, Katie took me for a tour of the city and showed me all sorts of wonders. I saw the pristine river that divided the city, museums with relics from a dozen worlds, massive underground cave networks filled with plant life, and a power plant that utilized a form of fusion to generate energy from nickel powder and hydrogen gas.
I learned that the solar system we were located in was the home of multiple sentient species, and they were all aware of the spiritual essence of all intelligent beings. They recognized us for what we were, and they didn’t seem to have a problem with it at all. As we walked through the town, we met a few other spiritual entities as well.
Hours passed, and the sky darkened to reveal three moons. I stared at them as Katie and I walked towards a small cafe. We sat down and ordered two hot beverages.
“So how long have you been dead?” I asked Katie.
“On Earth it has only been several days, but from my point of view it has been years,” she said.
“What's heaven like?” I asked.
“It's a wonderful place, but I'm not really allowed to tell you everything about it,” she said. “But I will say that it makes this city and its marvels seem dull.”
“Do you like it there?” I asked.
“Of course I do,” she answered. “But I do miss life on Earth, sometimes. I especially miss the people I left behind. I'm thankful God answered my prayer and let me see you.”
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