by Justin Price
Tempers were flaring on both sides of the debate. Police in full riot gear were shown walking the streets of several large cities; trying to calm down the rioters.
On top of all of this, the second in command was ready to take over and do whatever Assad needed him to do to Bernhart and every one of his cohorts. The dark clouds had gathered over the nation’s capital as billows of smoke and fire rose from places all over the country.
CHAPTER 12
They still had two miles to go, but Maggie felt like the hardest part was over with. She continued to talk to Chaim as they walked through the old sewer system, which was thankfully long since dried out when they stopped using the system forty years prior.
“What do you think about what I said back there?” asked Chaim.
“I think that it is true in a way. The government already thinks that I am one of you and I am being treated as such. I’ll never be free to walk the outside world without fear of death or imprisonment again. The decision to go ahead and accept Jesus makes sense.”
“Then what’s holding you back?” asked Chaim.
“I don’t really know what it is”, said Maggie. “I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe I am not completely convinced. I mean, we have been conditioned all of our lives to think that religion of all kinds is bad and the only true religion is world unity and peace. Our gods are the ones that can be seen and felt. It is still hard for me to accept an invisible God who loves us, especially with all of the pain in the world.”
“He doesn’t cause the pain though”, said Chaim. “It is the devil who has come to steal, kill, and destroy but Jesus said that He came to give us an eternal and more abundant life. I believe that the time is coming very soon when He will bring many of His children out of hiding to confront Assad and show the true love and miracles of God to the world.”
“When that time comes, I’ll be ready”, said Maggie.
“Has anyone ever told you that you are hard headed?” he asked as he shook his head and laughed.
“Yea, John has told me that a time or two”, she said. “I would do anything to hear him say that to me right now.”
“I’m sorry”, said Chaim.
“You know…I think part of me not wanting to make a decision right now is based on him. I was waiting for him to take the lead and do it himself, but he never did. Now, I don’t know if he has or not. It may sound stupid and maybe it doesn’t even work this way, but I couldn’t imagine going to heaven without him. I don’t think it could be a happy place for me if I knew he was in hell.”
“That’s not stupid at all Maggie. I can understand that. I don’t know how much you will know or feel in that situation, but I do know that there are no tears or sadness in heaven. Maybe you wouldn’t realize it or God wouldn’t allow you to feel something that hurt. I don’t know how it works, but I do know that God is merciful and He loves you both. He will give you every chance He can give you, but don’t make a decision based on anyone else but you.”
About a mile into the walk, a loud crash was heard and pieces of concrete collapsed behind them.
“They know we are down here!” yelled Commander Murray. “We need to run as fast as we can or we will all just be sitting ducks. Let’s go now people. Move, move, move!”
They all ran for their lives for the last remaining mile before they reached the basement of the old parking garage where the vehicles had been stored. Everything was shaking as the drones bombed up and down the street. Pieces were caving in, letting in beams of sunlight behind them.
The bombing seemed to stop, but they started hearing gunshots about one-hundred yards behind them. A team of six had repelled down below the street and were pursuing the believers. A couple of people tripped and fell during the chaos and fell behind the rest of the group.
“We have to help them!” said Maggie.
“No! We can’t do that”, said Chaim. “We will end up dead too. We’ve got to keep moving.”
The people that had fallen behind were being shot just as Commander Murray and the first in line were reaching the exit to the sewer. They ran and jumped about three feet to the concrete below. From there, they made a right and went down a ramp until they came to the underground level of the old parking garage.
“I want everyone to go with your family’s and get in a vehicle”, said Commander Murray without hesitation. “I want every one of you to start driving toward Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Please travel in twos and keep your distance. We don’t need a convoy attracting more attention once we get out of New York.”
Chaim and Maggie got in an old van along with Commander Murray.
“I want to make sure everyone else gets out of here”, he said. “Do you have the micro-blast gun with you Chaim?”
“Of course I do sir.”
“Good… prepare to use it. Here they come.”
The six World Council soldiers came from the opening firing at every vehicle that passed by. All of their vans were armored and capable of hovering so they couldn’t take out tires or windows.
The last vehicle had pulled away when Chaim pulled out a small pistol-like gun. He aimed it directly at the men and pulled the trigger. It sent a shockwave that knocked them off their feet and rendered them unconscious for a few moments. It was just enough time for the three of them to get away and head to safety.
―――――
It was an unbelievable sight. The World Council forces had already met some of the west coast believers at Joshua Tree National Park and destroyed them. Bodies were still inside the vehicles as they passed by; the mangled metal still on fire.
Joanna covered Ryan’s eyes as they drove by; holding him close to her. They had never seen so much devastation. They counted probably over twenty vehicles in all. That may have accounted for about one-third of everyone who had gotten out of the city alive.
“We are going to have to just go straight to Tennessee guys. I am guessing that anyone else who has or will pass by here will just do the same. We can’t stop here; not with World Council forces being in the area. We just need to keep going.”
Javier began pounding the top of the steering wheel with his hand while tears ran down his cheeks. They had never seen him lose his composure once through everything that they had been through together, but this seemed to be the last straw for him.
“I’m sorry for the loss of your friends”, said Noah. “Do you want me to take over driving?”
“No. It’s okay. I’m alright….I’ll be alright. It’s just hard to see”, said Javier. “These were my brothers and sisters. All they wanted was to live their lives in peace, but these people who have no business in our country won’t let that happen. We aren’t the terrorists…they are.”
“I know friend…I know. None of it is fair”, said Noah.
“Life isn’t fair”, said Javier sighing. “Well, we have a long drive ahead of us. Might as well get settled in. It will be around thirty hours of driving. Over two-thousand miles.”
“Why don’t you drive until you are tired and then I’ll take over”, said Noah.
“Alright, man.”
“What was that back there mommy?” asked Ryan.
“It was just something that your eyes didn’t need to see”, said Joanna. “It’s all okay now.”
“Where are we going?” asked Ryan.
“Somewhere safer”, said his mom. “A place that we can be ourselves a little more. How does that sound?”
“That sounds really good”, said Ryan. “I don’t like it when people don’t like us.”
“Me neither...,” she said.
Javier chimed in…“Once we get out of California, the risk immediately goes down. It could be changing soon, but as for now, each state has been able to decide how much of a World Council presence they want around. California and New York are the two worst, so the further away we get, the better off we will be.”
“Why are those the worst?” asked Ryan inquisitively.
“We can thank our wonderful politi
cians for that”, said Javier. “We’ve had some of the most liberal politicians in the country for years.”
“What does that mean?” asked Ryan. “Liberal?”
“It just basically means that they don’t like the old way of doing anything and they constantly want to change things, especially if it means giving away our country’s status as the best in the world. Many feel guilty that our country has been so prosperous and feel that the United States should have been on an equal playing field with everyone else.”
“Well, what’s wrong with that?” he asked.
“The problem is that people fought and died to earn our right to exist as a sovereign country…just like Israel did. But, many in the world hated us because of what we stood for. We stood for freedom, prosperity, and democracy. In order to not hurt the feelings of others anymore, some politicians started trying to bring the United States down to a place where we were no longer superior in any way. This opened it up for Assad and the World Council to come in and take our country away to add it to their collection.”
“Long before Assad came, the spirit of the Antichrist had already been at work here; dividing the nation and causing hatred and discord. Anyone who held to the belief in God, especially in Jesus Christ, was a threat to society and so called progress.”
“It sounds like they aren’t good people”, said Ryan.
“Some are misguided and then again some such as Assad are just evil”, said Javier.
Suddenly a car appeared in his rearview mirror. It was gaining on them quickly. Javier’s heart sank at the sight of the white car. ‘Local or state law enforcement’, he thought. ‘Maybe they won’t do background checks on this family.’
“What is it?” asked Noah.
“We’ve got company bro”, said Javier as he pointed in the rearview mirror.
“Great. Just what we needed”, said Noah. “What should we do?” he asked.
“Let’s just wait and see what he does”, said Javier.
The car got right on their heels to read their license plate and the blue lights came on. They pulled the car over to the side of the road and prayed.
―――――
John woke up again in the same dark, padded cell that he was in before. His body hurt all over and his mouth and throat were so dry that it was hard to swallow.
“Just let me die God”, he said. “It would be better for me…better for everybody.”
He sat there motionless for several minutes before finally crawling over toward the door to see if he could hear anything. He leaned over and put his ear against the thick door. He couldn’t hear a sound. The door was suddenly jerked open and he fell down on the side of his face and looked up at the same man who had tortured him previously.
“Just kill me”, said John.
“We told you that you would wish you were dead…and it didn’t take long did it?” Rollands said. “I thought you were some tough special ops soldier.”
“I was…I’m done being a soldier now. I want to have a normal life and have a family”, said John.
“Well ain’t that precious?” said Rollands.
“I still have a little left in me though”, said John in rage.
He swung his legs around and swept Rollands off of his feet. The big man went down flat on his back and laid there in shock for a moment before getting up. He kicked John in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him.
“You are trying to make me kill you aren’t you?” asked Rollands. “Well, if the boss didn’t have bigger plans for you then I would do it right now. I could so easily put a bullet through your head.”
“Go right ahead”, said John, spitting at the guard.
“I have something a little more exciting for you”, he said.
He grabbed John by the collar and dragged him across the floor. He fought the man until he wouldn’t put up with it anymore.
“Alright”, said Rollands, “You want to do it the hard way? Say goodnight again.”
He took out a syringe and plunged it into the side of John’s neck. Everything immediately went black.
It only seemed like moments later to John. He woke up groggy and laying on an uncomfortable metal table much like the ones used by medical examiners for dead bodies. He looked around in a panic and tried to move his arms and legs. It was to no avail. He was completely fastened down.
There were monitors everywhere and two men in white lab coats walked back and forth, manipulating information on the projection computers that stood in front of them.
“He’s awake”, said one of them. “Are we ready to proceed Mr. Bahar?”
“I would like a word with him please”, said Adnan.
He walked up and stood over John and stared into his eyes.
“Before we completely wipe your memory of who you really are and replace them with what we want you to think, I want to let you know that I will thoroughly enjoy every second of this. You didn’t want to give us the information we wanted, so you will go find them for us.”
“I won’t do anything for you”, said John angrily.
“Oh, but that’s where you are wrong Mr. Robertson. You will do whatever we ask of you when the cerebral reconditioning is finished. All that you will know is that we are your friends and they are the enemy. It should be a rather fun experiment.”
“You and Assad are monsters!” John shouted. “There will be a day of reckoning for both of you and believe me…I will enjoy every minute of it.”
“If there ever is such a day, you and your pals won’t be around to see it. I am willing to bet that nobody will ever stop us though. Goodbye John…”
Adnan walked over to the men in the white coats and nodded his head. “He’s ready.”
They walked over and attached electrodes to the sides of John’s head as he screamed and pulled against the restraints to no avail.
The men walked back over to the monitors and simply pushed a button and John began to shake as if he were having a seizure. His entire life seemed to literally flash before his eyes. Some of his earliest memories of his mother and father flashed by and disappeared until they were gone.
His days at school playing and learning with his friends, his first car, his first job. Everything was flying by at a rapid pace and leaving his mind. After just a few more seconds, he saw his wife in her wedding dress. How beautiful she was on that day…The day he was drafted to war, all of the killing…everything gone. It all ended with his last memories seemingly flying out of a window, never to return.
The shaking stopped and he just laid there with drool running down the side of his cheek and onto the table. There was nothing there…his mind was completely empty and only functioning at a basic level.
“Great”, said Adnan. “Now, let’s get those new memories in there. I have a plane to catch.”
One of the men pulled up a file that had every programmed memory that they decided to give him. They ran the program and all of them flooded his brain. He once again shook, nearly pulling an electrode off of him. After a couple of minutes of this, the process was finally done. The man known as John Robertson was no more.
They took all of the electrodes off of him and took him out of his restraints. Bahar walked up with a guard next to him.
“Do you remember your name young man?” he asked gently.
“Yes…It’s Kyle…Kyle Graves.”
“Very good”, said Bahar. “You are at a government treatment facility. You have sustained injuries from the time you spent as a captive of the Christians in New York. We managed to rescue you and bring you back here to recover.”
“I remember”, said John. “They were terrible and relentless. When can I get back to work? I want to go find these people and make them pay.”
Adnan smiled. “You have always been a great World Council soldier Mr. Graves. I like your tenacity, but you still have some healing to do. You can rest up here for the next week and we will turn you loose with your own team.”
“I can’t wait.”
CHAPTER 13
The surgeon came out of the room and headed toward William. He stood up and shook the doctor’s hand and asked, “How is he?”
He had a grave expression on his face as he began to explain the President’s condition.
“He is still alive, though he is in very critical condition. The bullet severed one of his main arteries and punctured his lung before tearing through muscle and nerves in his back. We managed to stop the bleeding and administered donor blood to him.”
“Can I see him?” asked William.
“He is in recovery and you are free to go in and see him, but I want you to be aware that he isn’t awake and may not be awake for some time. He is in a comatose state at this time. Most people with this type of trauma come out of it within hours, while it takes days with others. His body and brain need time to heal.”
“Why would he be in a coma? He didn’t have a brain injury did he?” asked William with concern.
“No, he didn’t. However, he did flat line on us three times. His body and brain were both deprived of oxygen and blood for periods of time. We helped put him in this state in order to help him heal a little faster before he is awake. Even after he is awake, he won’t have full operation of his faculties back yet. It could take months for him to regain some of his motor skills. This had a similar effect on his brain as a stroke victim would have. It will just take time.”
‘Time isn’t something we have right now’, William thought to himself.
“Alright…thank you doctor”, said William. “I’ll send for Vice President Donnelly. I’m sure he will want to know this information.”
William grabbed one of the Secret Service agents and asked him to find Donnelly and have him come down to see the president and discuss how the government would need to carry on with Liam in his current state.
He dreaded the exchange and what was to come. The Vice President was not a born against Christian like Cain had become. He was still firmly entrenched in the current ideals of world government and held Assad in high regard. It was going to be harder before this happened to the President, but now it would make it nearly impossible to go back to the way things once were in the United States.