The Called: Chosen (The Called Series Book 2)

by Justin Price

  She found herself in a wheat field. There was nothing but wheat blowing in the wind for as far as the eye could see. There was a calm in the air as the gentle breeze blew her hair around her face. ‘Where am I?’ she thought as she walked through the field.

  Suddenly, she could hear thunder in the distance. Dark clouds formed in the west and lightning lit up the sky. The wind began to pick up and blow harder. The peaceful feeling gave way to one of fear as she began to run from the clouds that were quickly closing in.

  It didn’t matter how fast she ran, there was no place to go; only open fields. She finally stopped struggling and just stood and looked up as the clouds came directly overhead. The thunder became even louder and lightning struck all around her.

  It began to rain, but there was something very different about this rain. She felt like she was being pelted by something solid. To her horror, she looked down and saw the tiny creatures bouncing off of the ground before getting up to devour the wheat around her. The insect-like creatures had red eyes and looked like they had armor with the tales of scorpions. She batted at her clothes in fear, trying to get them off of her.

  Everything suddenly became extremely still. She could hear their evil laughs as she looked at each one of their awful faces. The clouds above began to swirl until a tornado touched down right in front of her. She felt like she should have been afraid, but there was something about it that attracted her to it.

  She couldn’t stop herself from walking toward it. The wind lifted her up and into the vortex. It should have been pure chaos inside, but there was a strange peace. She looked up and saw a hand with scars reach down to her and pull her up. She knew who it was.

  Abbie woke up from her dream with her heart still pounding from what she had experienced. ‘What does all of this mean’, she wondered.

  ―――――

  Samyaza al Assad had just finished his address to the world. He was legitimately angry that the United States and Britain would turn their back on him and the World Council. ‘It will be short lived’, he thought. ‘It can’t be them versus the whole world. They don’t stand a chance. They may even tear themselves apart from the inside out.’

  He went into his private chambers and knelt down on the floor. He began to chant in an old language that was not his own. Within seconds, two creatures appeared. Their terrible eyes glowed and their wings nearly folded in front of them.

  “What is the condition of the fallen ones?” asked Assad.

  “We are gaining strength. We have been roaming back and forth across the earth causing deception, disease, and death. Soon we will be strong enough to torment them in the physical world.”

  “Good, the second seal has been opened on the earth. War is breaking out due to the ignorance of some who would break away from us. The third seal will be famine. You see, I know what is coming next. Yahweh wrote it in his word for all of us to see. Who gives away their battle plans?”

  “This shows why you are superior master. You will take your rightful place as god. We will not fail you.”

  “The window of time for me to do this is short. We must completely wipe out the Christians. Their presence here is the only thing holding me back from my destiny.”

  “We have one problem there sir”, said the demonic angel.

  “What is it?” asked Assad.

  “We can’t harm them. They are protected by a force much greater than we are. We have fought and fought against the angels that protect them and have lost many times. Even when one of us gets the upper hand, we are unable to cross the blood of the Lamb.”

  “What then?” asked Assad. “They aren’t invincible. They are only human.”

  “We have found a way to get to them”, said the demon. “We have to influence the unbelievers to do them harm. That is the only way.”

  “Very well then”, said Assad. “Use whatever tactics work. I just want them gone.”

  “Yes master. It will be done just as you say.”

  With those words, they were gone. Assad got up and walked over to a desk and sat down at it. ‘I was counting on them not even being here when I got started. But He has left him here like a thorn in my side. Yahweh could always be so straight forward yet so mysterious at the same time. He may have made it more difficult for me to take my place here on earth, but he won’t fool me again.’

  Assad called Adnan Bahar to find out what he had accomplished in the United States during his discreet visit.

  “Hello sir”, answered Bahar.

  “Hello. Where are you?” asked Assad.

  “I am in the air right now over the Atlantic Ocean somewhere”, answered Bahar.

  “How did the operations go?”

  “We had some small but effective victories. We were able to flush out the Christians hiding in Los Angeles and take many lives in the process.”

  “Some of them got away?” asked Assad.

  “Yes, but they won’t make it long out in the open. We have a team on that right now.”

  “Good.”

  “Oh, sir. We have done even better things on the east coast in New York. We also killed some insurgents there. To top it off, we captured the most wanted fugitive in the country; John Robertson.”

  “That is wonderful new Adnan! What is his status?”

  “We did the cerebral reconditioning procedure on him. He has no recollection of who he is and doesn’t have any of his own memories; only the ones that we planted.”

  “He is a killing machine”, said Assad. “What plans do you have for him?”

  “We will use him to track down and kill his comrades that fled the scene in New York. His wife is believed to be included in that group.”

  “This is good news. We need every small victory that we can get. The time will come very soon when they will no longer be able to hide anywhere. Our World Council forces are getting stronger and so are our spiritual forces.”

  “Sir…sir. I have to go. We seem to have an unknown aircraft following us. I don’t know what they would want.”

  “It’s probably an American fighter jet. Call for reinforcements now.”

  “Okay. The pilots are calling in some of our own jets that are about twenty miles away. We have fighter drones that we can drop from the plane. They will slow them down until we can get help here.”

  Assad could hear gunfire and loud noises just before he lost contact with Adnan. “Americans!” he shouted as he slammed his fist down on his desk. “They never quit.”

  ―――――

  John Robertson aka Kyle Graves was being treated like a king as he was healing from the wounds that had been inflicted on him by the same people that were now acting like his comrades. He felt a little hazy, but he was told that was just from the concussion he had sustained from the fight with the Christians.

  He had a suite with a king size bed and all the amenities he would ever want. It felt like a five star hotel. The memories of the dark dungeon they had locked him in were no more. He couldn’t remember the electric shocks or the waterboarding. He couldn’t remember the beating. He remembered nothing but the cruelty of the Christians when they had kidnapped and tortured him.

  He remembered the spy, Maggie Robertson, who had set him up to be taken. He had trusted her and she turned on him. He decided in his mind that her fate would be the same as the others when she was found. There would be no mercy.

  It was intriguing how many automatic habits had carried over from when John was himself. Ever since he had been in the military, he would get up out of bed and do push-ups and sit-ups. He would then eat a protein bar with a glass of water and go running. He was still doing these things without even thinking about it. His instincts, habits, and skills stuck with him but the most important parts of his life were gone.

  Rollands looked at the screen that showed John doing push-ups by his bed. He turned to his superior officer, Zeke Austin, and said, “Amazing isn’t it? The guy is still very much himself, but without the memories. Will this last indefinitely
?”

  Zeke turned and stared at John on the screen intently. “Yes…Well our studies have shown that it lasts for years with ninety-eight percent of our subjects. Even in the two percent who have gone back to their previous state have done so after at least a year. He will accomplish what we want him to accomplish at the very least.”

  “How long will we give him before we send him back out?” asked Rollands.

  “I think five days is sufficient. He is already healing at a rapid pace and making enormous gains. He will be back at about one-hundred percent by then with the engineered food and meds that we have been giving him.”

  “Great news sir. Could I go out this time?” asked Rollands.

  “I intend on sending you out with John…absolutely”, said Zeke.

  “How are we going to locate them?”

  “The same way we got them last time. We have an inside source. We will know exactly where they are going. Once they are all together, we will attack.”

  Meanwhile, John was finished up his workout and headed toward the cafeteria. Rollands went out and met him in the hallway and put his arm around him. John jumped and gave him a look that could kill.

  “Sorry Kyle”, said Rollands.

  “I’m just a little jumpy after all I have been through”, said John. “Between war and then coming back here to be taken hostage and tortured by the same type of people I was hired to get rid of overseas, I don’t know if I will ever get back to normal. I don’t even really know what normal feels like anymore.”

  “I know what you mean Kyle. I had some of the same experiences when I served in the war. Of course, I didn’t see quite as much hand to hand combat as you did and I didn’t get captured, but seeing people die around you and having to kill children can put scars on you that never heal.”

  “That’s very true”, said John. “Hey, do you know how long they are talking about waiting until they send us out again? It’s really all I know and I am getting restless here.”

  “Zeke said less than a week. We want to give them all time to get to where they are going and our informant will let us know where to find them. They will be all together out in the open where we can make easy work of them. We just have to be patient.”

  “Who is this informant that you are talking about? Were they there when I was detained?”

  “No. I don’t think they were. They just have inside information that they share with us. They wouldn’t have been involved with your situation”, said Rollands.

  The truth was that Rollands had no clue, but that’s all he could say. He was a bit caught off guard by the question. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have even mentioned the informant’, he thought. ‘It’s so top secret that I don’t even know who it is right now.’

  “Good…I was going to say, that would have been pretty nasty of them to watch while I was getting the crap kicked out of me every day.”

  Yea, that’s for sure”, said Rollands. He quickly changed the subject. “So, how are you feeling?”

  “Considering everything that happened to me, I am feeling pretty good right now. I am very grateful that I was rescued and brought here. It saved my life. I was getting very close to just hanging myself with a bed sheet while I was there. Commander Murray was especially terrible. They say they stand for peace and love, but the way they treat people is a completely different story.”

  “Oh yea. They are hypocrites. Plain and simple”, said Rollands. “They have been like that for ages. Always something to say about others issues, but they were even worse. I think that was one of the worst things about them. I’m just glad that our world has decided to do something about it. They are an endangered species and it is only a matter of time before they are completely extinct.”

  “When that day comes, the drinks are on me!” said John.

  “I’ll take you up on that”, said Rollands.

  CHAPTER 15

  The car was coming up behind them rapidly. Noah and Joanna tried to remain calm for the sake of their young son, Ryan, but they were terrified on the inside. So many things flashed through their minds in the seconds before the car caught up to them. ‘What if they split us up? What will they do with Ryan?’

  Javier pulled over to the side of the road just as the police car got on their tail to read their license plate. The cop pulled in behind them and got out of the car, straightening his hat. He walked up the side of the vehicle, peering in at the woman and child in the back seat before he reached the driver side window.

  “License and proof of insurance please”, said the officer.

  Javier leaned over and pulled his wallet from his back pocket and handed the officer his information.

  “Where are you headed to today?” asked the officer.

  “We are heading east to visit some family”, said Javier, which was really the truth in a way.

  “I see”, said the officer. “Do you know why I pulled you over?”

  “I have no idea”, said Javier. “I don’t think I was speeding.”

  “You’ve got a break light out”, said the officer. “It is illegal not to have both lights functioning in the state of California.”

  “Oh, I didn’t even realize officer. I will be sure to get that fixed as soon as I can”, said Javier.

  “Alright. Well let me run your information here real quick”, said the officer.

  Javier sat there nervously waiting; each second ticking away seeming like an eternity. He hoped that the World Council had not made the connection that he was with the believers because if they had updated the system, then he and his friends were done for.

  He sat there tapping his steering wheel, just praying that everything would be alright. He could stomach the thought of being thrown in prison more than the thought of the family that he felt responsible for being locked up.

  After a minute, the officer stuck his head back in and handed Javier his license and insurance card. “Thank you sir”, said Javier.

  “So, who are your friends here Javier?” asked the officer.

  “Oh, these are my friends from Mexico. They just recently became citizens.”

  “Congratulations”, said the officer.

  “Thank you”, said Noah.

  The man nodded his head and tipped his cap. Be careful guys. He walked back to his car, got in, and pulled away.

  They all breathed a collective sigh of relief as the car turned around and went back the other direction.

  “That one was close”, said Noah.

  “Yea, well we at least know that they haven’t entered me in the system as a fugitive. Maybe I am still a free man for the time being. I won’t be for long though. Once they start requiring us to report to a temple to worship the image of Assad and take the mark, then those days will be over for me. For all of us.”

  “It’s a shame that we couldn’t enjoy that a little longer”, said Joanna. “We became instant fugitives even before we officially became believers. They were onto us immediately.”

  “I don’t think that you guys are ranking high on the list of the World Council most wanted yet, but you could definitely be recognized in the state of California. It’s probably a miracle that the cop didn’t recognize you.”

  As soon as those words came out of his mouth, the officer showed up again. He was speeding towards them with his lights on.

  “Oh no”, said Javier. “He is onto us.”

  They had only seconds to decide what they were going to do. Javier rolled it around in his mind a few times and came to one conclusion. Their only chance to make it out of California was to try to get away. It was risky, but if they didn’t get away then they would all spend the rest of their lives in jail.

  The authorities would try to indoctrinate Ryan with Assad’s belief system of the one world government and one world religion. If it didn’t work, then they would kill him.

  “We have no choice”, said Javier. “We’ve got to go now.”

  “Are you sure?” asked Noah.

  “It’s our only chance
”, said Javier.

  Javier floored the pedal and the car took off like a shot out of a cannon. The police car lost ground quickly before the officer stepped on the gas, immediately calling the situation in to central dispatch.

  The officer caught up to them and tried to move up beside them, but Javier whipped the car back and forth in front of him to try to keep him back. Finally, the state trooper pulled up next to him and tried to run him off the road.

  Javier rammed him back the other way and said, “Noah, reach in the glove compartment there and hand me the gun.”

  “What? Are you going to shoot him?” asked Noah.

  “Of course not. I’m going to shoot out his magnetic field and then take out his back up tire. Now hurry.”

  Noah quickly handed him the gun and Javier aimed quickly and shot with one swift motion, taking out the electric box on the side that stopped the vehicle’s hover capability. One more shot flattened the tire that would have given the officer normal old fashioned driving capabilities.

  The officer was stranded, but Javier and his passengers just kept driving as fast as they could go towards the Arizona state line.

  ―――――

  Adnan Bahar was frantic. He unstrapped himself and walked up to the cockpit.

  “You do realize that we have a U.S. Air Force fighter jet on our tail right?” he asked.

  “We saw them coming from a couple of miles away”, said the pilot. “We don’t have the capabilities to outrun them. What do you think they want?”

  “Are you serious Ray?” asked Bahar. “They are starting a war with the World Council. They would love nothing more than to take down the second in command. Get your force field shields up now! Launch the drones and give them something else to focus on until we can get help out here.”

  “The shields are up”, said the co-pilot. “Now releasing drones.”

  “Ground control”, said the pilot. “Do we have people in place on the ground to fly these drones? Eight of them?”