The Tears of Nero (The Halo Group Book 1)

by Jason Brannon

  Edward nodded and opened Lindell’s suit coat. It was like opening the door on a morgue locker. The horrid smell of rot wafted out like a wayward ghost in need of a place to haunt. Edward took a step back, clutching at his nose.

  It was apparent that someone had meant for them to find this body. An industrious haberdasher had embroidered a message across the corpse’s vest: “No man can serve two masters,” the message read.

  “What do you make of that?” Henry asked.

  “That smell is so horrible all I can focus on at the moment is not throwing up,” Edward said through clenched teeth.

  “Looks like he’s got a wallet with him,” Henry said. He held his breath until he couldn’t hold it any longer and dug into the dead man’s pockets. Once he had the wallet in his possession, he stumbled backward, pushing the billfold into Edward’s hands.

  Edward opened the wallet and was surprised to see a note. It was addressed: “To Edward.”

  “Go on,” Henry urged. “See what it says.”

  “Let’s go back to the mouth of the cave to read this. I’m starting to get the willies in here. Plus, I feel like I might faint at any minute if I don’t get some fresh air soon.”

  Henry didn’t need to be persuaded. Once he and Edward headed back to the mouth of the cave, everyone else followed behind them. Soon everyone was back at the entrance, away from both the body and the stench that went with it.

  Edward took a couple of deep gulps of fresh air, opened the note addressed to him, and read:

  “When he was about to be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ said, ‘Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?’ A Roman legion was 6000 soldiers. According to the words of the Lord, 72,000 angels could have been summoned at His command. Such a number could have also saved Him on the Cross. Given the way the world treated Him and still treats Him, why didn’t He call those angels forth and come down from that rugged tree? Why did bad things happen to the Son of God? Maybe if we had even one of those angels at our disposal, things would be different. Maybe if we had one of the seven angels mentioned in Revelation at our right hand, we could topple the dominoes of civilization and set the world aflame. We could loose the horses of Armageddon and let them trample the weak underfoot. All it would take is one to start the chain reaction.”

  Edward read the note twice more to make sure he really understood what Nero was saying. It all seemed like madness.

  “What do you make of it?” Henry asked him.

  “There are some very deep theological problems with Nero’s plans for us,” Edward said. “For starters, man doesn’t have the ability to usher in the end of the world. Remember the verse, ‘But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.’ Not even Christ, Himself, knows when God will choose to call his Church home.”

  “I don’t think it matters about what is true and what isn’t true,” Henry said. “I think it’s about what Nero believes to be true.”

  Edward was about to add something else to the conversation when Sadie started screaming.

  Chapter 17

  Sadie’s screaming contrasted sharply with the smooth strains of the violin. When they got to her, she was staring at the place where Reverend Lindell’s body had been hanging on a cross. Much to their surprise the cross was empty.

  “He’s alive,” she shrieked. “I saw him crawl down off of that cross and walk away.”

  “Impossible,” Franklin said. “We saw his body with our own eyes. He was dead. Maggots don‘t burrow in live flesh.”

  “I know what I saw,” Sadie argued.

  “No way,” Franklin argued. “Am I the only one who caught a whiff of that guy?”

  “He’s alive,” Sadie said. “I’m sure of it.”

  Henry put his arm around the girl. “Calm down. We’ve all seen a lot of strange things here. That doesn‘t mean that you saw what you thought you saw.”

  “Do you see the body now?” Sadie asked.

  “Good point,” Henry acknowledged.

  “What made you go over to the body anyway?” Franklin asked. “You were the one who didn’t want anything to do with it.”

  “He was someone I cared about at one point in my life,” Sadie said. “Seeing him hanging there like that was much harder than I expected it to be. A lot of old feelings resurfaced, and I couldn’t help thinking about all of the good times he and I shared. I came back to pay my respects. I felt like I owed him that much. When I got here, I saw Lindell stepping down from that cross and heading deeper into the heart of the cave. You should have seen the look on his face. He was like a mad scientist possessed by a demon.”

  “I don’t buy it,” Franklin said.

  “Think what you want,” Sadie said. “My story’s not changing.”

  “It could be some sort of trick,” Edward said.

  “But why?” Henry asked. “Nero can force us to do what he wants. He doesn’t have to play mind games.”

  “Let’s assume Lindell and Nero really are the same person,” Edward said. “In his mind, however, let’s assume they are two different people. Separate and distinct with different identities. What if the two personalities are aware of each other and continually at war inside him? Maybe he believes that he’s actually both of these people, and this is some sort of psychotic break. Staging a mock crucifixion of Lindell would be Nero‘s way of killing off the old persona. Remember what was stitched on his vest: ‘No man can serve two masters.’”

  “Do you know how crazy that sounds?” Franklin asked.

  “Look around,” Edward said. “I’m just speaking the language.”

  “Point taken,” Franklin said.

  “Maybe we should go after him,” Edward suggested.

  “No way,” Henry said. “I draw the line at spelunking a cavern inhabited by a crucified dead man who crawled down off of his cross. Maybe it‘s all a staged hoax, but I‘m not willing to go any further right now.”

  “Catching him is the only way we’re getting off this rock,” Franklin said. “We get our hands on Nero, we have a chance at survival.”

  “Or he kills us first,” Kelly said.

  Franklin grumbled and peered into the darkness. “Whatever,” he said. “You’ll wish you had listened to me later.”

  “I worked for Lindell,” Kelly reminded him. “We shouldn’t underestimate his resourcefulness. He has the means and ability to pull off something like this. His television show is like one big well-oiled machine. He knows where the plants in the audience are. He knows what to say at the precise moment. He knows when to smile at the little old ladies to prod them into opening their purses. Lindell’s success has a lot to do with trickery, but it also relies on timing. That’s one of the things he prides himself on. Unpredictability drives him crazy. This took a lot of planning. That’s one of his trademarks.”

  “Does he have anyone in his entourage with connections to the movie industry?” Edward asked.

  “He has a make-up artist on standby. Some of the places he frequents would bring his empire crumbling to the ground.”

  “So he goes in disguise?” Henry asked.

  “You should see some of the get ups I’ve seen him in,” Kelly said.

  “Does anyone find the imagery here a little ironic?” Sadie asked. “Let’s assume that Lindell is the one responsible. He seems to have this messianic complex, viewing himself as several notches above all the sinners he’s dedicated himself to serving. In reality he‘s lived worse than the people filling his pews. It makes sense for him to stage his death by crucifixion if he believes himself to be so high and mighty.”

  “He’s delusional,” Henry sighed. “No doubt about it. The biggest problem with that is that we’re at his mercy.”

  “No,” Kelly corrected him. “The biggest problem is that he’s going to kill us one by one if we don’t do what he wants us to…and he’s going to start with me.�
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  Chapter 18

  The atmosphere inside the cave was heavy. A shroud of fear and hopelessness pressed down on them, blanketing them in oppression. Water dripped from stalactites over head in a maddening staccato rhythm. Shadows danced and played on the limestone walls.

  “Let’s get out of this cave and sort everything out when we get back to the beach. We’re like sitting ducks in here,” Edward said.

  “But it’s almost nightfall,” Sadie said. “We’ll be sitting ducks out there in the dark.”

  “We know he’s in here with us somewhere. I vote for outside,” Henry said.

  “Me too,” Franklin said.

  The group fled the cave and headed back to the beach. The sun was melting into the horizon when they reached the outside world again. The path leading from the cave back to the beach wasn’t nearly as obvious in the dark. Several times they veered off the trail, realizing their mistake as the underbrush grew too thick to pass through. Henry tripped over a fallen tree. Franklin became entangled in a mess of long serpentine vines barbed with sharp thorns. Sadie stepped in a hole and nearly sprained her ankle. Edward almost grabbed something with red eyes that hissed at him as he reached for a branch to steady himself.

  “Where’s a machete-toting maniac when you need him?” he said, trying to make light of the situation. “We need some help clearing this brush.” Nobody felt like laughing. They were too busy swatting mosquitoes, trying to avoid the gnarled roots that crept across the ground, pushing branches away from their faces, and keeping their eyes open for any sign of danger.

  The water looked like oil in the darkness. The moon’s pale reflection skittering across the ocean’s surface gave the appearance of ghosts frolicking in the waves. It wasn’t so hard to imagine the end of the world beginning in a place like this.

  “Look,” Henry noted. “Up ahead. There’s a fire. Looks like we won‘t have to start one.”

  “It’s a trap,” Sadie said. “It has to be.”

  “It certainly would seem that way,” Edward agreed.

  “We’re pretty sure that no one else is on this island with us besides Nero and his cronies,” Franklin noted. “So it’s clear who’s responsible. I’d be willing to bet all my stock in Griffith Technologies that our host isn’t getting ready for a cookout down there.”

  “You‘re probably right,” Henry said.

  “Kelly, what does your intuition tell you?” Franklin asked in his most sarcastic voice.

  Kelly didn‘t answer.

  “Fine, don’t respond,” he said, slapping at a mosquito the size of a Cessna.

  “I think she’s gone,” Sadie said. “Kelly?”

  “Kelly?” Edward called. “Does anybody see her?”

  “Kelly!” Henry shouted.

  “She can’t be far,” Edward said. “She was here a minute ago.”

  “Maybe she went off into the woods to use the little girl’s room.”

  “Or maybe Nero is finally making her pay for whatever it is that she did to him.”

  “We should go look for her,” Edward said. “Let’s stay in pairs. Sadie, come with me.

  Franklin and Henry searched the nearby area while Sadie and Edward ventured a little further ahead. They spent the next ten minutes calling her name, pushing through the underbrush, scoping out the shadows in search of any sign that Kelly had ever been there in the first place. But Kelly was gone.

  “How could she have disappeared like that?” Edward asked. “We were all right here together. I never heard a thing.”

  “We were all trying to keep from killing ourselves as we walked toward the beach,” Henry explained. “There were a number of times Nero could have nabbed her without our knowing.”

  “We should have kept a better eye on her,” Franklin said, frustrated. “She’s been double-crossing us from the start, keeping tabs on us for Lindell. We let her slip through our fingers.”

  “She seemed frightened of Lindell,” Henry reminded him.

  “If that’s the case, why didn’t she stay with us?” Sadie asked.

  “Good question,” Henry said. “I imagine we’ll get some answers down at the campfire. It’s the obvious place to look.”

  They were about to head toward the blaze when Edward held up his hand. “Listen,” he said.

  They only needed a moment of silence to hear what Edward heard. It was the sound of a woman sobbing.

  “It’s Kelly,” Henry said. “Let’s go.”

  “She’s baiting us,” Sadie said.

  “We can’t bet on that,” Edward said, jogging toward the bonfire. “She might need our help.”

  Seconds later, they heard from Kelly again. This time it wasn’t in the form of a whimpering sob but a scream, and it was a sound that ripped the night in two. It was a noise made of anguish, despair, and excruciating pain. Now, no one had any doubts that Kelly was in trouble.

  Although the terrain was rugged, the group navigated the last stretch of underbrush without much difficulty. Their problems had nothing to do with this little unkempt corner of Mother Nature’s world. In fact, the terrain was the only thing they could successfully manage on their own at this point, and they charged ahead valiantly in an attempt to keep their courage and their hope alive. It was only when the group reached the fire that they realized how hopeless their situation truly was.

  Chapter 19

  Nero had studied his history well and commissioned a series of gardens to rival those of his namesake. Petals of every variety and color were in bloom, yet some of them had withered in the heat. Benches and fountains had been built here for moments of quiet reflection, and the gentle trickle of water was the only sound that could be heard now that Kelly had gone quiet.

  For a moment, none of them could speak. Words would have been insufficient to describe the way they felt at seeing her hanging there like that.

  The fire burned fiercely, but no one moved to put it out. There was no point. Smoke billowed into the air in great gray plumes, and the stench the fire put off was nauseating.

  “That can’t be her,” Henry said, peering deep into the darkness. “Nero couldn’t have done this so quickly.”

  No one tried to correct Henry or convince him that he was wrong. They knew who the girl was. Henry knew who she was too.

  She had been tied to a tree and doused with some sort of accelerant before being burned alive. It was enough to give even Franklin reason for pause. For once, he didn’t have anything sarcastic to say.

  The group huddled close to each other for strength, support, and the feeling of safety it provided. Despite Nero’s warning, none of them had truly considered that they could die here on this island. This made it real.

  “I can’t believe it,” Franklin said at last.

  “This is horrible,” Henry agreed.

  Without warning, Sadie made a break for a stand of nearby bushes and vomited until there was nothing left in her stomach. Needing a reprieve from the tragedy, Henry helped Sadie to her feet as she struggled not to gag again.

  “It’s all right, dear,” he said, comforting her. “Deep breaths.”

  Sadie stood up with Henry’s help, but she refused to look at what was left of Kelly. She had seen more than her mind was capable of handling, and her mind was threatening to shut down. Henry put his arm around her and turned her face toward his chest, protecting her from the sight.

  “Don’t look at it, dear,” he said. “It’ll only make things worse.”

  “Why did he kill her like that?” Franklin asked.

  “Kelly became one of Nero’s human candles,” Sadie whispered. “It was one of the ways Nero persecuted Christians. He burned Christians as a means of illuminating his gardens at night.”

  “But Kelly wasn’t a Christian,” Henry noted. “Or if she was a believer, she didn’t seem too keen on professing it.”

  “I think the point Nero is trying to make here is that Kelly, like God, contributed to his troubles,” Edward said. “In his mind, he lumped her right
in with all of the Christians….and as a result, she received the same sort of punishment.”

  In Kelly’s memory, Nero had planted a flower at the base of the tree, not far from the flames. It had shriveled in the heat. One of Nero’s notes had been pinned to the stem. Henry grabbed it and read it aloud. “If God knew that the Romans were going to torture and persecute Christians, why allow the Romans to come into power?”

  “I think Nero’s trying to point out how messed up the world is,” Sadie said. “It’s obvious from the clues he’s left us that he’s gone through some very traumatic things. His worldview seems to be one seen through a window of pain.”

  Henry nodded. “He also seems to believe we’re responsible for some of that pain. The bottle cap game he had planned for Kelly was personal.”

  “I think we all know what we have to look forward to if we don’t do as Nero says,” Edward said with grim resolve.

  “Shouldn’t we get her down or something,” Sadie said softly. “We can’t leave her like that.”

  “We don’t have any choice right now,” Franklin said. “We can’t waste precious time burying the dead.”

  “For once, I agree with you, Franklin,” Edward said. “As much as I hate to abandon Kelly, there’s nothing we can do for her now. She lost at Nero’s game, and he made her pay for it. I think we need to focus on staying alive. We need to dig in. Make camp.”

  The tide crept in like a thief. The jungle loomed ominously in the background, and it wasn’t hard to imagine Nero crouched there amongst the shadows, watching them.

  Henry stayed with Sadie while Franklin and Edward gathered driftwood. With some help from Henry’s lighter, they had a suitable flame going within a couple of minutes. Nobody said anything for a while. Nobody knew what to say, what was appropriate at this point. Finally, Franklin was the one to break the silence.