The Seventh Vial: A Novel of the Great Tribulation (The Days of Elijah Book 4)

by Mark Goodwin

  Ali tried to reason with some using Galatians chapter three but was met with resistance by several Jews who claimed the sabbath pre-dated the law since it was first mentioned in Genesis chapter two, verse two.

  So, with only seven other able-bodied people to help, Everett began the task of breaking up the rocks into manageable stones which could be moved out of the way and set aside until they had an opening through which they could remove the rubble.

  “You take it easy on that shoulder,” Courtney warned.

  “It’s been three weeks. I’ll be fine.” Everett replied.

  “And according to the doctor, you weren’t supposed to be doing any heavy lifting for at least another three.”

  “The hammer isn’t heavy,” he disputed.

  “You know what I mean.”

  Courtney worked right behind Everett, passing stones back to Ali, who passed them to a former IDF troop behind him. “The rock is really easy to break up, huh?”

  Everett kept his goggles on and his mouth covered with a face mask. He struck the chisel with the hammer. “It’s a lot easier to bust than that slab we had in the cave.”

  “If that was the case, we’d just move to Derinkuyu.” Courtney kicked the smaller stones to either side of the stairs.

  After an hour, Everett switched with Ali, who chiseled for the next sixty minutes, then handed the tools off to Samuel, the soldier working behind him. Everett returned to the chisel once four other men had taken an hour-long shift.

  Just before seven o’clock, fifteen new men showed up, with Ruben as their leader. He’d been the man debating whether or not to keep the Sabbath with Ali earlier.

  Ruben called out to Everett from the bottom of the steps. “The corridor is too narrow for all of us to work at one time. Why don’t you people call it a day and let us work through the night? You can resume your shift at seven in the morning.”

  Everett accepted the generous offer. “Thank you, Ruben. I appreciate it.”

  Everett, Ali, and Courtney brought their sleeping bags down to the chapel on the second level. With all the banging and beating of rocks and chisels through the night, the first level would not be the best place to get a much-needed night’s sleep.

  The project continued Sunday, with Everett’s group working diligently through the day. Reuben’s relief team took over at seven o’clock Sunday evening.

  Exhausted by the day’s toil, Everett was out like a light shortly after eating supper.

  He was awoken on the chapel floor right around midnight.

  “Mr. Carroll . . .”

  He rolled over to see a headlamp affixed to a helmet shining in his eyes and preventing him from identifying his harasser. He held a hand up to block the bright light. “Who’s there?”

  The man instantly understood his mistake and removed the elastic band holding the light on his helmet. “I’m so sorry, sir. It’s Ruben. We broke through to the other side.” Ruben switched the headlamp on to the green-light mode making its illumination much less intense. “I thought you might like to know.”

  Everett immediately forgave the man for having interrupted his slumber. “That’s great!” he exclaimed, paying no attention to the volume of his voice.

  “What’s great?” Courtney flicked on her flashlight and directed it at Reuben.

  “They broke through.” Everett exited his sleeping bag and slipped on his boots.

  Courtney wore a velour tracksuit for pajamas. She stuck her feet in her black combat boots without lacing them up and followed Everett.

  Ali had obviously been roused by the excitement as he trailed behind as well.

  They followed Ruben up the stairwell to a three-foot-wide-by-three-foot-tall tunnel which led to the surface. Everett emerged from the hole like a meerkat. He sniffed the fresh air as if he were one of the small, fur-bearing, desert creatures checking for danger. The moon was three-quarters full and provided more light than he’d seen since being buried below ground two days ago.

  The destruction of the buildings surrounding the entrance to the Kaymakli underground city was absolute. The Typhoon wasn’t in the best shape when they’d arrived, yet now it was absolutely destroyed by the impact of the hailstones. The large blocks of ice were gone, but the destruction left in their wake served as evidence enough.

  No fragment of a wall stood more than three feet in height. Every single structure had been reduced to piles of rubble less than waist high. Not a single tree remained with branches. At most, a few stripped tree trunks jetted up from the barren earth six or seven feet tall, like monoliths left by some ancient culture who’d once inhabited this un-recognizable planet with a moon that closely resembled the one on Earth.

  “This world is not our home.” Everett turned around, examining the ruins on every side.

  Courtney took a deep breath. “Thank God for that.”

  “Heaven doesn’t have much competition now.” Ruben glanced from one section of the eradicated landscape to the other.

  “It never did.” Ali’s head turned upward, looking beyond the wreckage of earth, past the moon and stars, as if he could see straight into the throne room of God.

  Ruben turned around. “My crew will continue to excavate throughout the night. We’ll clear as much of the rubble as we can.”

  “Why don’t you guys call it a night? We’ll all take a break tomorrow and pick up where we left off on Tuesday.” Everett patted Ruben on the back.

  Ruben knelt down to crawl back in the hole. “We’ll work the rest of the shift, but you guys take the day off. After all, we took Saturday as our Sabbath.” Ruben turned to Ali. “And one man esteems one day above another, yet another man esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Isn’t that right?”

  Ali smiled big, showing his large white teeth. “Romans fourteen.”

  Ruben offered a friendly nod and descended into the opening.

  Everett, Courtney, and Ali followed after Ruben and swiftly returned to their beds. Despite the excitement, one-by-one, they all resumed their interrupted slumber.

  Everett knew they needed to rest on Monday, so he fought the urge to set up the solar panels and began scanning information channels for news about the rest of the world. Instead, his team slept in, ate some extra MREs, and attended Rabbi Hertzog’s devotional service.

  Tuesday, however, Everett got an early start on his task list. After a short time of personal prayer and reading a couple chapters of his Bible, he got to work setting up the solar panels and the Ham radio antenna. Courtney assisted Everett while Ali focused on reinstalling the satellite dish.

  All three of them agreed that most terrestrial antennas were probably destroyed by the quake and the hailstones, but if there was any signal to be found, it would likely come from a Global Republic satellite. After all, a liar isn’t happy if he doesn’t have anyone to lie to.

  Once the various pieces of equipment were erected, Courtney scanned the AM/FM radio, Ali worked on the satellite dish, and Everett tested the Ham frequencies. He was unlikely to understand anything being said if he were to intercept a communication, but he’d quickly call Ali to interpret.

  The three of them spent several hours looking for signals but found none. The remainder of the day was spent helping the security team clear the rock and gravel from the city entrance.

  In the days that followed, Everett’s team would spend an hour each morning, an hour at mid-day, and an hour each evening scanning for signals with no success. The security team eventually cleared the tunnel down to the original steps to the entrance.

  Finally, on the Friday morning one week after the Seventh Vial, Everett heard the faint crackling of voices on the Ham radio. “Ali! Come quickly! I’ve got something.”

  Ali hurried to the radio located in a nook a few yards inside the city entrance. “What is it?”

  “Turkish, I think. Listen.” Everett adjusted the volume slightly higher.

  Ali sat still and quiet. The transmission was of poor quality,
but he seemed to be making out the gist of the conversation.

  Everett waited patiently while Ali jotted down a few notes on a scrap piece of paper stored beside the radio for just such a purpose. The conversation ended, and Everett looked up with anticipation. “What did they say? Did you hear anything about Jerusalem or Angelo Luz?”

  Ali looked at his notes with his eyebrows pressed closely together. “No. This guy was MOC fighter at Megiddo. He escaped from GR forces. He was talking with his uncle in nearby town.”

  “And?”

  Ali shook his head. “Very strange what he talk about. He say GR have vehicle at Megiddo he never see before. And he talk about the GR supersoldier he see in the fighting. He say MOC and Chinese-Russian Alliance never have a chance against these guys. He say they are like three-meter tall.”

  Everett chuckled. “Seriously? That’s what, ten feet tall? Giants?”

  Ali shook his head pensively. “I don’t know. Whatever this guy see make him very afraid.”

  “He could have been injured in the fight and hopped-up on some local medication. Or, he could just be plain ol’ hopped-up on drugs.”

  “Maybe.” Ali’s voice showed that he was deeply considering what he’d heard over the radio.

  Later that evening, Everett, Courtney, and Ali met the rabbi on the second level for dinner in his quarters.

  Everett relayed the unusual conversation they’d overheard that morning.

  “Hmm.” Rabbi Hertzog nodded his head as he listened.

  “You look like you’re buying this story.” Everett was surprised by the rabbi’s reaction.

  “Messiah said that as it was in the days of Noah, so would it be at the time of his coming. The passage in Genesis that speaks of the days before the flood specifically mentions giants. It also mentions crossbreeding between the sons of God and the daughters of men. These beings are called the Nephilim.”

  Everett waved his hand dismissively. “Yeah, but Jesus was talking about the general state of wickedness being similar to the days of Noah.”

  “The Global Republic Broadcasting Network had been touting their genetically engineered supersoldiers which they admit are hybrids of humans and the Watchers. Genesis chapter six specifically says the Nephilim were warriors of renown. That sounds oddly like a supersoldier to me.” The rabbi put another cracker in his mouth.

  Courtney sat up straight. “So, you think these supersoldiers are the same as the Nephilim spoken of in Genesis chapter six?”

  Hertzog took a long drink from his canteen. “I do. But, HaShem wiped them from the face of the Earth before, and he will do it again. At this point in the game, they are of little concern to me.”

  Everett pressed his lips together tightly. He hoped that the voice over the radio was not speaking the truth of the matter, but his thoughts were plagued by how quickly the Global Republic had won the war against such a vast collection of armies. They’d not only defeated China and Russia in a week, but they’d managed to put a decisive end to radical jihadis, something all of their predecessors had failed to do.

  But what worried Everett the most was that he’d managed to step in just about every dung heap prophesied concerning the Great Tribulation. If there were indeed Nephilim on the planet, he had a bad feeling that he wouldn’t get through the next two months without a confrontation with them.

  CHAPTER 23

  And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

  Genesis 10:8-10

  Everett found living underground in Kaymakli to be several rungs lower on the ladder compared to the cottage in the mountains outside of Batumi. He had no picturesque view of the river, no fresh fish, no garden, and no scenic cliffs in the background. But it was a significant step up from life in the cave, back in Virginia. The cavern near Woodstock had only the low ceiling area near the entrance, a short passageway to the main living space, the great room which they’d labeled the cathedral, and the narrow tunnel they’d used for storage.

  The underground city had several different rooms on each of the eight levels. The ability to go from room to room aided in fending off claustrophobic notions. The opportunity to visit with folks for a time and then retire to a secluded space for privacy kept tensions in check while still warding off loneliness. Everett had found being trapped in the same space with the same people for months on end to be the most psychologically oppressive element of cave life.

  The fact that the underground city had been designed with the purpose of human habitation in mind made it feel more civilized as well. The cave had felt a little too primitive; too cavemanesque. That small difference in Kaymakli subconsciously encouraged residents to act according to their highest nature in regard to their neighbors. Folks treated each other civilly, spoke with kind words, and were generally polite. Everett felt sure that lesser conditions would have added to the stress of confinement and left the people behaving toward one another in a much more base manner.

  Everett’s twenty-second day in Kaymakli was a Monday. On this particular evening, he held the walkie-talkie up to his mouth as he looked at the blank television screen. “Still nothing.”

  Ali’s voice came over the radio. “What about now?”

  Everett had performed this fruitless ritual every evening for the past week; Ali adjusting the satellite dish ever so slightly, and Everett calling over the radio to let him know that they did not have a signal. “There’s nothing, Ali. I don’t think you’re going to be able to . . . wait! What was that? Go back!”

  “What did you see?”

  Everett pressed the talk key. “It was a brief flash of a news desk. It was heavily tiled, but it was definitely something. Whatever you were doing ten seconds ago, do that.”

  Everett stared at the television waiting for the image to reappear. “Right there! We’ve got a signal!”

  Courtney came in the room. “It’s working?”

  “Yeah, go get the rabbi!”

  She scurried out of the room.

  Ali rushed in to see the product of his handiwork. “GRBN! I was sure they would find way to put broadcast on satellite.”

  Courtney and the rabbi soon joined them. “Good work!” The rabbi came in the room with only the assistance of a cane. Since wood for canes was in short supply, Moses’ staff doubled as his walking stick.

  Everett looked at the CGI images of Heather Smith and Harrison Yates. They no longer seemed to be controlled by real people. They were more artificial than before; lifeless, hollow, dead.

  “Those two look extra creepy today.” Courtney stood behind Everett like a frightened child at a haunted house.

  His lip curled as he listened to the broadcast.

  “I couldn’t agree more. It really is eternal life.” Yates said, “Like Heather, I uploaded my consciousness into the Nirvananet, inside of Dragon, prior to the quake and the bombardment of the giant hailstones. So, even though our physical bodies were destroyed in the disaster, we will live on for eternity in the mind of Dragon.”

  “That’s right, Harrison. And His Majesty Angelo Luz has made this gift available to all who will believe. Most of the Global Republic administration buildings around the world were destroyed ten days ago, so those who procrastinated are going to have to prove that they are worthy of the gift. The Global Republic Emergency Operation Center is located at the Shinar Military Research Base. The fifty-square-mile military facility is completely underground and totally self-sufficient.”

  Yates took over the report. “General Semyaza has opened a large section of the installation to support a civilian refugee center on the surface above the base. The research base has endless stockpiles of food, water, medical equipment, tents for shelter, blankets, and clothing. If you can get here, we will welcome you with open arms.”

  The real Heather Smith would ha
ve put some personality into her presentation, but not this one. The CGI reporter continued her part in the broadcast. “The base is located roughly 500 kilometers southeast of Bagdad, Iraq. If you are coming from the south, it is about 50 kilometers northeast from the Persian Gulf coast of Iraq.

  “No one will be turned away. And the best part is that you can still take the pledge to His Majesty and have your consciousness uploaded to the Nirvananet, granting you eternal life within Dragon.”

  Courtney shivered. “They have eternal life alright. They’ll be burning in the lake of fire forever and ever, not in some computer program. Getting rid of Luz is like killing a cockroach infestation. He just won’t go away.”

  Everett looked at the rabbi. “You nodded like you were expecting them to announce that they had an underground research center.”

  “I was nodding when I heard the name,” Hertzog said.

  “Shinar?” Ali listened closely.

  “Yes.” The rabbi wrapped his hands around the staff as he spoke. “It means country of two rivers. The location indicated by the news broadcast is near the convergence of the Euphrates and the Tigris.

  “Babel, as in the Tower of Babel, was in the land of Shinar. And Babel, which means gate of the gods, was Nimrod’s throne. It was here that the Babylonian system first began. Additionally, when the prophet Zechariah had his vision of wickedness personified, it was to the land of Shinar that she was taken to build a house for herself.

  “It was in Shinar that Nimrod and his wife, Semiramis, developed Mystery Babylon, the false religion which has infected the Earth ever since.