The younger man pursed his lips, hesitated, then walked into the light. At first he didn’t seem to have a problem, other than the sticky road. But when Vicki handed the cuffs to him, he screamed and dropped them.
Frightened, the man turned to his partner, holding his hand in front of him. “She made those handcuffs hotter than fire. It left a mark on my hand!”
“This is the fourth Bowl Judgment,” Vicki said. “The Bible says if you’re following the evil ruler of this world, you’re going to be scorched with fire.”
The other officer marched toward Vicki rolling his eyes. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, and when he reached to retrieve the handcuffs, a blister raised on his forearm. The man cursed and moved into the shadows, rubbing his arm and sneering. “I hate your God and his plagues! No wonder Nicolae wants you and the rest of your kind dead.”
The officer reached for his gun and pulled it from its holster. By now the sun had moved forward, and the officers had to step back. Vicki scrambled to the other side of her car as the man fired.
“Come on,” the younger officer said. “Let’s get out of here before it’s too late.”
The officers hurried to the car and backed away, tires squealing.
Vicki breathed a sigh of relief. It would be a long day for the GC in Wisconsin.
35
MARK crawled into the darkened hole and down rickety stairs. The man inside looked like a castaway from a deserted island. His clothes were dirty and tattered, his beard long enough to touch his chest, and his skin pale.
“You’re takin’ a big risk out there in daylight without the mark,” the man said. “Is this your little brother?”
Mark studied the man’s forehead, but there was no mark of the believer or of Nicolae. “No, this is Ryan. The GC stopped his mom just up the street.”
“I knew you wasn’t GC,” the man said. “Come with me.”
Ryan clung to Mark’s neck as they walked through the room, ducked their heads, and went into another. Mark’s eyes adjusted to the dim light, provided by some sort of lamp system around the room.
“Feels like it’s gettin’ hot out there,” the man said. “I’ve seen the reports.”
“What reports?” Mark said.
The man ran a hand over a computer and wiped dust from the screen. “I have to clean everything about once a day.” He flicked the computer on and called up images he had saved. Fires engulfed buildings along the East Coast. Scenes of horror Mark could never have imagined flashed, and Mark turned so Ryan couldn’t see.
“I expect the same thing’s gonna happen here, you think?”
“I’m pretty sure it is.”
“Then we need to get your friends off the street, or they’ll get burned up.”
“There’s only one way to make sure we don’t get burned,” Mark said. “What’s your name?”
“Clemson Stoddard,” he said, reaching a hand out. “I’ve been down here since the start of the big war. I was scared of the nuclear stuff at first, but then I kind of liked being out of sight. You’re one of the first visitors I’ve had in ages.”
“What is this place?” Mark said.
“There used to be an oil-change place behind the garage. They leveled it after the disappearances, but since I owned the land, I just sealed it up without anybody knowing. Lamps are kerosene. I tapped onto an electric line for my computer and the freezer. Got enough food down here to feed you and your friends for quite a while.”
“Why haven’t you taken Carpathia’s mark?”
Clemson scowled. “He’s creepy, don’t you think? All that coming back from the dead business. Killin’ people for not puttin’ one of his tattoos on. I’m gonna ride this one out—that’s what I’m going to do.”
“Have you seen anything about Dr. Ben-Judah on the Web?”
“Yeah, I’ve read some of his stuff. I don’t mind tellin’ ya I’m not into religion. I try to live a good life and help people, but I don’t go in much for church and all that Jesus stuff, if you know what I mean.”
Vicki watched the squad car race down the hill and take the turns way too fast. She thought the car would flip, but the driver slowed enough around curves to keep it on the road. Up ahead, the sun cast a golden glow. The car sped up to a frightening speed, but before it could reach the shade of some trees ahead, it spun out. From Vicki’s perch she saw little puffs of smoke come from each tire.
The squad car came to rest in the middle of the road, blocking both lanes. To her horror, a large truck pulling a huge tank bore down on them from the other direction. The truck tried to stop, but its tires were melting before her eyes, the wheels sliding on the road like melting chocolate donuts.
The two officers jumped from their vehicle a second before the truck collided with the car. An explosion rocked the valley, sending a ball of flame into the air, and the officers fell. One finally stood, thrusting a fist toward the sky before his body was consumed in flames.
Vicki fell to her knees in horror. She covered her face as the smoke and smell of the fire reached her. “God, help me get back to Ryan and Cheryl and the others and let them be all right.”
Mark knew Clemson was in serious trouble. He had avoided the Global Community and stayed out of sight from others in the town, but he had no protection from the plagues. Mark discovered the man had been stung by one of the locusts, which had entered through an air vent, but he had obviously avoided the deadly horsemen and hadn’t been affected by the wrath of the Lamb earthquake.
“Look, I need to tell you some important stuff, things that will save your life, but I have to check on my friends. Would you mind keeping my little buddy here until I get back?”
“Not a problem,” Clemson said. He pulled out a pack of gum and held it up.
“He’s too young for that. He just swallows it.”
“Right. Well, let me think what else I have here… .”
“Do you sing?” Mark said.
Clemson furrowed his brow. “What kind of question is that?”
“He likes ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ and ‘Hush, Little Baby.’ ”
“Twinkle!” Ryan said.
Clemson laughed, the corners of his eyes wrinkling with delight. “I can give you my country version of that, if you don’t mind. Maybe even a little ‘You Are My Sunshine’?”
“Sunshine!” Ryan said.
Ryan went to Clemson with his arms outstretched. He seemed fascinated with the man’s long beard and pulled at it. “You know how long it’s been since I laughed out loud, little guy?”
“Thanks for doing this,” Mark said, “but I have to warn you. Don’t go outside. Don’t even go near the opening. The sun’s going to be really hot, and it’ll no doubt burn you.”
“We’ll be all right.”
When Mark opened the trapdoor, sunlight flooded into the hidden room. He smelled smoke and heard dry weeds crackling. The last thing he heard before he closed the trapdoor was the warbly sound of Clemson’s voice softly singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”
Vicki jogged down the hillside as the sun came over the mountain. She expected everything to burst into flames around her, but it didn’t. A small stream flowing past the road bubbled and hissed as steam rose, but trees only a few yards away seemed unaffected. Plastic mailboxes melted and pooled on the ground, basketball backboards wilted like dead flowers, and electric lines strung overhead snapped. Vicki had to be careful that she didn’t go near any of the downed wires or get hit by falling debris.
Rushing toward town, she noticed another eerie sound overhead. She finally spotted an airplane flying just over the tops of some trees. With its wings on fire, the small plane looked like it was trying to land. Suddenly, the engine’s whine stopped, a wing broke off, and the aircraft plunged. It disappeared in some trees, and another explosion rocked the hillside.
Vicki wiped sweat from her forehead and kept running.
Mark made it to the street where Tom, Marshall, and Cheryl sat and gasped when the female officer poin
ted her gun at them. Buildings behind the woman blocked the sunshine, but from the sweat stains on the woman’s shirt, Mark knew she was feeling the heat. A GC squad car squealed to a stop near the group, and a mustached officer jumped out, yelling at the woman. Mark wasn’t close enough to hear, but he figured the man knew they had only a few minutes to get away. But where’s Vicki?
The woman keyed her radio and called for the other officers, but they didn’t answer.
Suddenly, a huge explosion rocked the valley, and a plume of smoke and fire rose into the sky from the east. Mark was close enough now to hear some of the conversation. It sounded like Marshall Jameson and Tom Fogarty were urging the GC officers to find shelter in one of the nearby buildings.
A buzzing from overhead distracted the group, and Mark saw a small plane with its wings on fire trying desperately to land. It disappeared behind the buildings, and seconds later they heard the explosion.
“This must be another judgment from God!” Marshall said. “You need to get out of here—”
“You want us to leave so you can get away,” Officer Mustache said. “All of you get up and into the car now.”
Something on the hillside distracted Mark. An empty car burst into flames, sending a shower of sparks into the air. Mark panicked. He knew his friends were protected from the plague, but what if they were in a car with unbelievers?
Before he could do anything, the two officers had all three of his friends in the back of the squad car. A house on the hillside crackled, and the roof began to smoke.
Mark moved to his left, toward the main road. When the car was a few yards away, he ran into the road and waved wildly. The squad car was in sunlight, and Mark was afraid it might explode.
Officer Mustache honked his horn and swerved, trying to avoid hitting Mark, but Mark moved right in the car’s path. The man slammed on his brakes and stopped a few inches away. Sweat poured from the man’s face.
The female officer gasped for air, threw the door open, and drew her gun. “On the ground!” she screamed, her gun pointed at Mark’s chest. Suddenly, she dropped the weapon and danced on the pavement like a child running from the tide at the beach. Her ponytail bounced behind her while she ran away from the car in circles. Finally, her hair sprouted flames, and she glowed like a human blowtorch.
Officer Mustache exited the car and immediately put a hand over his head. Sparks flew from his mustache, and he fell and rolled.
Mark turned away, unable to watch. The officers’ screams faded quickly as their bodies were consumed. Mark opened the back doors, and his friends scooted out.
Vicki came upon the squad car and her four friends and couldn’t help crying. The two GC officers lay at the side of the road in ash heaps. Vicki wiped away her tears and found the keys to the handcuffs near the female’s body. Vicki released Cheryl, Tom, and Marshall before turning to Mark. “Where’s Ryan?”
“Come on. I’ll show you.”
They walked in silence through the town. A few streets over they heard screaming as more fires broke out. Vicki felt like she was walking through the fiery furnace, like the three Old Testament believers Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. But this was no furnace—it was the real world burning at the hand of an angry God. Vicki couldn’t help but think of hell. She knew there were some who believed it wasn’t a real place, but the more she looked around, the more she was convinced that the Bible was true and that hell had to exist.
Mark led them to Clemson’s hideout and opened the trapdoor. Vicki heard singing inside and smiled when she realized Ryan was picking up the words to “You Are My Sunshine.”
Vicki caught Cheryl’s arm and told the others to go inside. Cheryl pulled away and said she needed to see Ryan.
“We need to talk first,” Vicki said.
Cheryl nodded and turned as Vicki closed the entrance. They walked to the middle of the empty lot, and Cheryl folded her arms. “I know what you’re going to say, and I deserve whatever it is you guys have decided to do.”
“We haven’t decided to do anything yet. I want to hear it from you—why did you lie to Wanda and take Ryan?”
Cheryl sat in the dirt and buried her head in her hands. “I was so jealous of what Josey had with Ryan. I had done all the work and had gone through all the pain, and she was getting the reward. That little boy was part of me. I felt him growing inside me. Being that close to him was just torture.”
“We never should have let you stay that close to him,” Vicki said. “If I had it to do over again, I’d have gone with you to another location.”
“Where?” Cheryl said. “I don’t want to be anywhere but with Ryan.”
Vicki kept quiet as Cheryl cried. She had hoped Cheryl would say she was sorry for taking Ryan, but she seemed to be making excuse after excuse.
“Being cooped up at that camp didn’t help. There’s nothing to do, and every time I saw Ryan I thought about us being together, just him and me. That’s how it should have been.”
“How did you plan it?”
“The van? I watched Marshall and figured out where he kept his keys. It took a while, but I finally got them. All that time I planned where I would go. At first, I was going to just drive and ask God to show me a place. Then I got scared and decided to write Wanda.”
“We found your e-mails to her.”
Cheryl smacked her forehead. “I thought I’d deleted those.”
“Cheryl, you made a promise to Josey and Tom. You know you can’t give Ryan the kind of home—”
“I’m his mother! There’s only a little more than a year before Jesus comes back, and I can do as much for him as anybody.”
“I think you’ve ruined that now. How can we trust you when you kidnap—”
“My own son?”
“When you get so moody and won’t talk and then endanger all of us by kidnapping a member of the group?”
Vicki watched Cheryl stare at the fires raging on the hillside. She didn’t know what to say and silently prayed, “God, please show Cheryl where’s she’s been wrong. Help her to see the truth about what she’s done and admit her mistakes. And give us wisdom with what to do with her.
Amen.”
36
JUDD Thompson Jr. and Lionel Washington walked out of their Ohio hideout in daylight for the first time since they had arrived. It was difficult convincing others that it was safe to venture out. When everyone read Dr. Ben-Judah’s latest message and heard what was going on around the world, they finally let Judd and Lionel go.
Judd uncovered the Humvee, and the two headed away from the hiding place. They were in a remote area, so it took them a few minutes to reach a town, but when they did, Judd wished they hadn’t come.
They crossed a river that bubbled like someone was boiling macaroni. The Humvee was engulfed in white-hot steam, then quickly passed through to the other side. They sped by a brick school, smoke billowing through open windows. Playground equipment lay bent and twisted, melting from the intense heat that neither Lionel nor Judd could feel. To them, it seemed like a hot summer day in Chicago, not the inferno that unbelievers felt.
The sky was cloudless so the sun beat down. The normally light blue heavens reflected an orange-yellow from fires on the ground. Homes and businesses smoked and smoldered, threatening fire at any moment.
Judd saw no airplanes or choppers above them. He wondered what a large airport would look like with fires breaking out on grounded planes. What an awful smell boiling blood must be in the rivers, he thought.
In a residential section of town, Lionel pointed out finely manicured lawns that had turned from deep green to brown as the grass went up in flames.
They neared a convenience store and slowed when the roof began to curl under the oppressive heat. Huge windows in front burst, spreading glass all the way to the street. Judd backed up a safe distance as hoses to gas pumps melted. A few minutes later the whole thing exploded.
“How is anybody surviving this?” Lionel said.
Judd shook his
head. “I guess they have to get underground. But a lot of people in basements are going to have their houses fall on them.”
Judd saw a fire department’s door open, and an engine rushed out. Firefighters in full gear bounced inside as the truck rolled onto the street. But as soon as the engine hit the street, GC flags on the truck burst into flames. Firefighters flailed their arms and struggled against their seat belts. The red truck slowed, its massive tires melting and spreading onto the pavement. First the driver, then the rest abandoned ship, running toward the firehouse. Before they reached the driveway, they burst into flames. One firefighter ran to the back, managed to turn the water on, and pointed the hose toward his coworkers. Boiling water scalded his friends. They screamed and fell before catching on fire.
Lionel trembled. “It’s not even the hot part of the day, and people are dying. Any idea how long this will last?”
“We don’t know. Let’s get back to the hideout and figure out when to head north.”
Mark had learned a long time ago that a person didn’t become a believer in God simply because of information, so he had to resist the urge to spell everything out for Clemson. Instead, he asked Clemson about his family, where he had grown up, and his church background.
“I’ve never been too big on church. My parents went, but I didn’t want anything to do with it. I’ve always felt the Lord knows a person without them having to get dressed up in fancy clothes and making a big show.”
“Did you lose anybody in the disappearances?”
“Yeah, lots of people wound up missing. I lived with my mother back then, taking care of her. She was usually up and cookin’ breakfast each morning, listenin’ to the radio preachers and singin’ gospel songs. But that day it was just as quiet as a graveyard. I went out to the pump house to get some apple butter for my toast, and I checked on her, thinkin’ somethin’ might have happened. Well, you know what I found. Her bed was empty.”
“What do you think happened?”
Clemson stroked his beard and picked up a picture of an older woman with shoulder-length hair. “To this day, I don’t know what to think. I guess it could have been some kind of sign from God, but I don’t know.” He paused. “What do you think?”
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