Abba's Apocalypse

by Charles Butler

  Chapter 7: Heaven Over Hell

  My spirit suddenly grabs my hand inviting me to go to a better place. I am too weak to resist its placid pull. I am surrounded by this most peaceful white mist as I venture forward effortlessly. It feels so warm and moist. It’s like being in a warm relaxing shower that cleans and massages away all the worries and pains of the world. I close my eyes and enjoy its sweet aroma of fresh purity. In the distant mist comes a voice. It sounds so familiar and loving. It whispers words I’ve not heard for an eternity. “Joey, my dear Joey,” wanders softly up to my most willing ears. I can barely make out the approaching figure floating with its two faces. It mysteriously travels towards me searching for a person with my name. The wafting whiteness swirls around revealing a glimpse of the intertwined couple. “Momma, and, is that you sis?” The inseparable figures unlock and stretch their approaching arms towards me. I fall to my knees in repentance. I cannot fight back the uncontrollable tears as both sorrow and joy overtake me. I lean my head back and bare my naked heart. The cleansing flow washes over my cheeks. Every desire, worry, fear, is spit out of my soul. The only thing I feel now is innocent love.

  I am squeezed by unconditional arms that will never ever let me go. I close my eyes as I see them, smell them, and hug them once more. “My little Joey,” momma comfortably whispers. She once again strokes my hair like she’s done so many times before. I remember falling asleep as she’d hum a relaxing rhythm to her soothing strokes. I once again melt to sleep in the longing of my momma’s secure arms. My adoring sister tricks me with her soft duplicating touch. Then, she abruptly tickles me back awake. Her devilish side once again shows her natural ornery affection. She begins wrestling me out of momma’s embrace while momma laughs. I hear her treacherous giggling that has gotten me in so much trouble in times past. She continues forcing her tickles and pecking kisses all over me. I curl to defend myself against the merciless princess onslaught. How I love this moment. How I never want it to end.

  “We’ve been waiting for you Sonny. We have always been waiting for you.” I pull ever so slightly away so I can see their wonderful faces once more. I notice, and then say, “Momma, you’re so young and pretty. And, you too sis!” She sweetly says to me, “Oh my dear Joey, you’re what beautiful is.” I uncontrollably cry some more. She whispers, “Aw, now then. You just let it all out baby.” Momma holds me tight as her warm hand swipes small circles on my back that melts every bit of anxiety away. I tell them how much I love them and how much I miss them. I feel my momma telling me, “We always knew inside you would find your way home to Heaven.” Sis just looks, smiles, and slowly nods her confirmation up and down. “How I missed you,” I tell them in my attempt to hug them both once more.

  Momma tells me, “We were allowed to come visit you to tell you something.” She stops and places the soft palm of her hand against my cheek. Sis continues the statement, “God wants us to tell you He is with you. He is also very proud of the love you have for others.” Momma resumes with, “You have to return for a little while more, but know He will be your champion over all evil.” I gaze not into my momma’s eyes, but into a prophet’s. Mom says, “There is coming great sorrow and destruction. You will need to rely on His word, and your strong faith.” Suddenly, my momma and sister are being peeled away from me as I am pulled backwards into the steamy haze. The last thing I hear as they disappear is, “Remember, always carry our love with you and God’s hope.” I continue drifting into the misty abyss as my heart receives a kiss of faith. I’m sucked back into the white womb and cry out, “Bye momma, bye sis! For a little while more.”

  I am standing in the cold once more. My blurry sight adjusts from the heavenly brightness to this hellish darkness. At once I detect streaks of orange, blue, red, and white within this swirling shadowy tapestry. My eyes begin to focus through this carnival of lights as some strange force holds me still. I am powerless to move. I can only stand and silently watch these puffs of fireworks on the horizon. My consciousness slaps me back to life, rewinding my memory to the looming doom. I once again see the field and feel the fear. But, the field is clear. I rip myself out of my powerless pose and spin around in to a defensive position. I see absolutely nothing. The burden of death has fled the field as I stand just confused and in awe.

  I hear a loud explosion, and then ringing. There is another even closer explosion, but all I hear still is this peaceful ring. Out of nowhere, I am jerked to the ground from behind. “Is this an LD?” I turn over and am instantly comforted to see it is my brother Gary trying to say something. His mouth is moving, but no words are coming out. He looks like he’s yelling at me. I turn my ear towards him so I can hear him better. As I do, I hear a louder ringing overtake the first one. Great flashes blind me as the ground begins to shakes. I keep straining to hear as Gary grabs and drags me down inside the chamber. I lay on the steps dazed and paralyzed for some reason. I stare up just in time to see Gary sliding the stone cover back in place. Everything is surreal. I don’t hear any sound now; not even the ringing. I am numb and dumbfounded.

  Gary jumps over me as the chamber light comes on. It looks like he’s in a hurry to go down below. I notice I am awfully tired while feeling funny vibrations coming randomly from the stone steps. I see the last of Gary as he vanishes into the lower chamber. I want to follow him, but I can’t for some reason. I question, “Why has he abandoned me in my time of need?” I am too tired though to get up and tell him what kind of friend he is. My ear itches, so I pry my left hand from the shaking step to scratch it. There’s something like spit on my fingers. I grow angry with Gary as I roll the goo between my fingers. I think he must be “fighting mad” to spit on me. I can’t remember doing anything to make him mad though. I recall him yelling at me outside, but I don’t remember doing anything to hurt him. I don’t remember him spitting on me either. Maybe he spit on me outside? I am curiously intoxicated and angry, but, in a way, kind of wonderful. I think, “What happened to the Demons?” I bring my hand to my face and stare at the glob in my hand. I really try and focus in on it, because it looks kind of funny. My head is hurting as I think, “Maybe this is why I can’t see right, and why I feel dizzy.” I squeeze and stretch the jelly mess between my fingers. It feels like spit, but, why is it red? I want to get up, and go down stairs with my other brothers. But, I am just too, too tired. I wish I could hear something. I think I’ll take a short nap here on the steps.

  “You get that side of him, and we’ll carry this end,” the voices say. I think things are returning to normal, because I can hear again- hooray! I wonder, “What are they trying to carry away in such a hurry? What the heck are you guys doing?” I open my eyes and ask, “Why are you grabbing me?” I feel like I am a rope in a “tug of war” game. I tell them, “Okay, you guys had your fun, so put me down.” But, they won’t listen to me. I feel myself getting angry and defensive. I sense them running along while stretching me. “Why are you doing this?” I tell them. I am confused because these were my friends. I feel real sad now. I wonder what they’re going to do to me. I want to fight them off. But, I am too tired. I think I’ll sleep a couple more minutes.

  “Joey, can you hear me?” I open my eyes and see Gary. I ask him, “What did I do to make you guys so mad at me?” He leans over me, and, “What the heck?”-hugs me! “You were hurt by the meteor shower,” he informs me. My mind race to recall the last memories I have of being outside. As I do, warm wool blankets press on me while I am being sucked down into this comfortable cradle. I try and figure out what happened and what’s going on. Gary says, “We felt the chamber shaking over and over. We knew something was happening outside.

  I ran upstairs to see if I could find out what was going on. I opened the hatch and saw you standing in the middle of the meteor shower. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen. They were exploding everywhere.” I reach to my ear because Gary’s voice sounds real muffled. He grabs my hand and tells me, “Your ears were injured. I put cotton balls in them to stop the bleeding.
” He lets go of my arm as I proceed to confirm the cotton in my ears. I tap the area and feel the soft fibers. I gently squeeze and twist it to identify with my fingers that it really is cotton stuck in my ears. “The explosions became so violent we even thought we’d be destroyed. Everything was shaking down here. Well, I saw you just standing there. I don’t know how long you were outside, but it was long enough to injury your ears. Everything else on you seems to work okay.”

  I tell Gary “My head hurts a little and I am real sleepy.” Gary replies, “You take a rest. All the commotion seems to be over now anyways.” The last thing I hear is, “Goodnight,” as I see the room get dark.

  I can’t tell if I’m dreaming or awake as I lay in this quiet darkness. I wonder if I’ll have permanent hearing damage, while also thinking of what may have happened to the LD. I have a sudden moment of fear realizing they were about to tear me to shreds. I have a lot of questions I just can’t answer. Is this a bad dream? I feel my nose and realize I am awake. I think of Moses, Katie, and the kids. My heart becomes excited and yells to me to get up and go help them. I feel half rested, but I know I cannot sleep if my friends are in danger. I grab the sides of this cradle and realize it’s really a cot. I push up while wishing I had some light to show me what is in this dark. The cot slides against the stone below and scratches it. I turn and sit sideways to pat myself and see what I am wearing. I identify I have my pants, socks, and undershirt on. I feel around on the floor and find my boots. I fumble in the dark but manage to slide each one on. I figure this is good enough until I find some light. I stand and slowly stretch my arms out in front of me and proceed to blindly feel through the darkness ahead. My body follows my probing whiskers that I imagine are moving in a straight line. I step with one foot then slide the other alongside it. This should help me to stay in a straight line. I count four steps and still feel nothing. I wonder if this is the supply room. I rationalize that it has to be, just because of the sheer size of the emptiness. Ah, I feel a flat surface finally. This has to be a wall. I’ll try moving left while I slide my hands on it. “Oops,” I think, “I just kicked over a box.” I reach my hand down and acknowledge it has the feel of cardboard. I run my hand over its top to locate its end and height. I step over it with my left leg as I return my left hand to the wall. I slide my hand further along the wall and lift and join my right leg to my left. “Ah, finally,” I feel the door. I slide my hand down until it thumps the knob. I open the door and can see again.

  I turn back inside the room and see my shirt, jacket, and belt. Quickly and quietly, I put them on. “Joey, did you get a good sleep?” my Irreverent brother Sam asks. I see him in the doorway as I finish getting dressed. I tell him, “I can’t spend any more time sleeping! I have to help another brother named Moses.” I friendly warn Sam not to tell the others I’m up. I’m afraid they might try and force me to sleep some more. I tell Sam, “I can’t afford anymore beauty sleep. I got to go. I’m not tired.” He tells me, “Well, you shouldn’t. You’ve been asleep for a day and a half.” My body’s telling me, “That’s impossible!” I am still tired. I tell Sam, “I got to go.” I grow angry with myself at the thought I would ever leave a family in such dire need. Sam senses my serious urgency as I watch his face staunchly change to a shade of loyal blue. I hurry and buckle up. I kindly shove Sam aside so I can get out of this room now! Other brothers come out of the chapel and ask me how am I feeling? I split the crowd with my hurried departure as I tell them, “Sorry, out of my way. I have to go on a rescue mission.” Gary jumps in front of me blocking my way. He tries convincing me nothing could have survived the storm the other night. I tell him briefly about the new Irreverent headquarters at the “old department store.” I inform him that God is supernaturally protecting it till He returns. “Please tell everyone they are welcome to come live there. But, I got to go find Moses.” I start pushing Gary aside as he asks, ‘Who’s Moses?” “He is like Randy, a new Christian. But, he has a family. They are out there somewhere in the middle of all that evil. So, get out of my way Gary!” Again he stops me. “Hold up a second. I’m coming with you.” I think I may need a second hand. This overrides my concern for Gary’s safety compared to that of the children. “Hurry, and get your stuff,” I tell him. I head to the steps and wait for him under the chamber door. He scurries to get ready.

  Gary returns with a rope and with his pockets full of stuff. I want to ask what’s in them, but the pressing time won’t let me. “Let’s go!” I slide this stone out of the way and move up to the next level. We gather under the final stone. I give Gary instruction, “It’s very important that you follow my commands as we move along. This mission and your life could depend on it.” Gary’s sincere nod promises me he will. I unlock and slide the stone a foot to see the overpowering daylight. This bright hue suggests it’s about noon. I pull my watch cover to see it is actually 1:15 pm. I peek outside and see all the devastation. The forest is burnt and half the trees have fallen or are shattered. I turn some more and see most of the surrounding buildings are smoldering, and then notice pile after pile of burning debris. I return my head inside and shake it side to side in disbelief. I tell Gary, “It looks like a bunch of nasty campers left their sites without cleaning their mess, and forgot to put out their campfires.” I think about poor Moses. I place my hand on top of Gary’s head and say a short prayer. Both of us respond with a simultaneous “Amen.” I finish sliding the stone the rest of the way, and then step out. There’s no sense running for cover, so I just stand in the open and stare at the ruin. Gary slides the stone back in place then joins me. This is one hell of a mess. The last time I saw anything resembling this was war pictures of 1945 Germany. All the distant craters have turned the town view in to what looks like a block of pumice. Gary states, “It looks more like the surface of the moon than our town.” I wonder if anyone could have survived this. Gary and I run towards where I imagine the alleyway was, as we start the journey of searching for our friends.

  We find the dust covered trail resembling the alleyway and begin walking. I tell Gary, “Be ready to ‘high tail it’.” I explain how the LD should be more worried about regrouping and surviving than going around searching for us. But, we should still be ready in case we come across any LD wandering around. I look up the alley through the streaks of smoke hindering my vision to what maybe ahead. I try explaining what happened the other miraculous night as Gary fights to stay alongside my long strides. He seems diligent to hear my riveting encounter, but all the debris, holes, and smoke force him to straggle just behind. I periodically wait for him to catch up as he tries dodging alongside me. His drooping mouth and shaking head suggests he’s not only amazed to what happened, but consumed by my unbelievable encounters. Gary is especially intrigued by the part about finding Katie, and rescuing Moses. I kind of have a hard time accepting it myself. Now, he understands my urgency to find this family.

  I see the “old mill,” as I quicken my pace. I figure we’ll stop by there first. I’m surprised to find the building is still standing after passing so many totally destroyed. I do see it has taken some damage as we draw closer. We step on to the property as I notice a couple dozen chunks of what probably are meteorites strewn between us and the mill’s back door entrance. There are long drag marks in the soil caused by the skidding pieces. Oddly, each points their trail away from the building. I have no idea why these trenches would be traveling away instead of going right through the building.

  The only thing I can come up with is: the meteors somehow ricocheted off the “old mill.” That seems impossible since meteors are rocket rocks made of iron traveling at supersonic speed. Every possible solution I try coming up with renders more questions rather than answers. We cautiously enter the back of the building as I continue to rattle my brain for possible solutions.

  I swipe at the irritating dust cloud circulating throughout this large room. I move over to the counter holding captive the cobweb covered cash register. I wonder, “If it could only talk, it coul
d tell me about all the interesting people it serviced, and the wonderful stories it must have overheard throughout the years.” I move towards the counter thinking it may be a good place to hide two kids under. I jump over a broken chair and shuffle around a display case leaning over. I see it has a hole punched through its glass cover; probably by a past pilferer. “Moses, Katie!” I yell, hoping I might get a response. I see Gary out of the corner of my eye venturing into the adjacent room. I leap over the dirty counter and bend down to check behind it. I find no signs anyone’s be behind here lately. Debris blocks me from continuing any further. I retrace my steps back to the entranceway and take a different course of action. I continue to finish checking the rest of the room. I don’t find any evidence that anyone may have been in here. I rub my burning eyes and cough several times. I find the air is becoming a toxic mixture of dust and the encroaching smoke seeping through the back door. I pull my undershirt up and over my nose hoping this will reduce some of my ailments. I decide to keep moving, but as fast as possible in an attempt to limit my exposure. I leave this room and follow after Gary.

  I look up as I enter this larger storage area. I am astounded to find a hundred pin holes of light streaming through the tin roof. Tiny streams of yellow lasers illuminate the entire area. I see Gary on the other side of the room bent down. He is leaning up a panel of plywood that was covering a fortress of boxes, cement blocks, and a couple chairs. I call out again, “Moses, Katie!” I journey closer to Gary to analyze his finding, as I journey through the tiny galaxies of stars orbiting over my entire body. As I get close, I hear Gary determining someone was definitely here. I bend over to view the reason for his conclusion. I count four MRE wrappers on the floor of this shelter. I grab one to find it had only been partially eaten. I smell and squeeze the bitten remains to find it’s fresh and still soft. This under area is also fairly clean of dust compared to the surrounding floor. I agree with Gary’s conclusion. “Yep, someone or some bodies were here recently.” A spark of hope fills me as we continue to finish checking the rest of the building.

  We end up in the main foyer as I think this is where dozens of customers once stood. Now all I see are dirty broken windows, and tumbling twines of dust. I wonder how many anniversary bouquets were sold here, how many Valentine roses were given to lovers, and how many wreaths were made for funerals. I stare through the broken windows at the wooden “Gardener Mill Florist” sign still hanging-half cocked. One chain now holds it as it twist to the sound of a churning chain. It was probably the prettiest crafted sign I ever saw; at one time and long ago.

  I look for footprints, but only find waves of fresh driven dust on the floor. I find I am now able to breathe again. The outside breeze sucks out the repugnant air as it swirls in the fresh acidy stench. I see the main door is partially open. Maybe it’s because Moses and the bunch had to leave in a hurry, or it was just left that way by a distant looter. Our next stop will have to be the “old department store.” “Come on Gary, we’re wasting light.” We join at the doorway and step out together.

  We stop just outside to give a quick look around. This side of the property only has one crater. But, it looks humungous. I can see it is near the “old department store,” about a quarter mile away. I also see what looks like half a jet sticking out of the bushes up ahead, and off to the left. I tell Gary, “Something isn’t right,” and warn him to stay close to me.

  We detour slightly to check the fuselage, and maybe figure out the reason the jet was destroyed. This could prove to be very important. As we draw nearer to it, I see many different size and erratically placed holes. I wonder what kind of enemy of theirs would have the power to do this. My mind recalls the militias forming back east. I reason, “Is it possible they somehow did this?” I stare further at the holes to see what kind of weapon could have taken a fast moving jet down. The erratic pattern in the jet’s skin rules out the linear pattern machinegun fire would have produced.

  We make it to the downed jet as I begin to notice the holes intrude from the topside inwards. The metal seems to be punched down into the jet, proving these holes came from a higher source. This suggests the attacker must have been airborne, and even higher than this jet’s altitude. I grab a handhold on its top portion, and then pull myself up for a closer look. I wonder what might have happened to the rest of the fuselage. I take a quick look around the perimeter to see if I can identify where it is. I don’t see a thing except that the ground looks to be free of any craters. I store this new knowledge under the category of “that’s odd.”

  I return to checking the perforations in the fuselage. So far, meteors would be the best candidate for the holes, because of the various sizes and erratic patterns. I look for remnants of rock on the jet’s skin, but I can’t find any.

  I decide to investigate further, so I slide down and enter through the broken section of the fuselage. I am unexpectedly overtaken with JP5 (jet fuel) vapor and hold my breath. I search quickly, but find no meteorite fragments of any kind. I do see exit holes suggesting whatever destroyed this jet, packed enough power to completely shoot through it. I also see the stretched metal skin around the holes above me pointing inwards. I hurry back outside and move away. I take a gulp of sustainable fresh air, and then take one more look at the jet’s breakpoint. It is a perfect clean break. This is also a candidate for the “that’s odd” folder, and file it under “weird.”

  I deduct the most likely reason for the holes are from an explosion that must have come from somewhere above the jet in flight. I am still not sure what penetrated the skin. There should be at least rock slithers inside; even if the majority passed right through. Also, the entry points equal the exit points. If I draw a line connecting the two, it would be straight. This proves that either: the jet was not moving, or the penetrating debris was moving faster than the jet. I also figure the holes could not be from the meteor shower without some signs of meteor remnants inside the fuselage. The metal would have surely cut at least a few slithers of the rock away. And, the holes could not have occurred after it crashed, unless there were small craters around the crash site. As for the breakpoint; that section looks like it was sliced in half. The breakpoint should display jagged stress marks on the skin of the jet. This would look sort of like a “Shark bite” pattern. But, it is perfectly straight up and down, and “clean as a whistle.” The cut also had to be faster than the jet was traveling, or the slice would be diagonal. Yes, it was somehow sliced straight through, and all at once, while traveling at a high rate of speed. That is why the other half of the jet is not anywhere near here. It could have veered in another direction, or just kept going several more miles. My last question is: why hasn’t the Guard been here to claim the remains? I don’t even see any signs they’ve been to its viewing. I conclude that I have no idea what downed this jet. I do know something happened to it that I must have never seen before.

  “Let’s go Gary,” I command. Gary finishes circling the jet and wants to know what happened to make it crash. We move out as I reason the best answer to tell him is, “It ran out of gas.” Gary tells me, “You’re crazy.” I laugh at him and continue towards the store. Gary shakes his head side to side mumbling something that makes him laugh. I have this idea that he’s not thinking of giving me a compliment. I figure humor is a soldiers best weapon.

  I see the afternoon light is turning orange. I peel the Velcro cover to see we have only about half an hour till full sunset. I want to hurry along pass all this debris before it gets too dark. I don’t want us to trip into, or on anything and get hurt. We’d really be bait for the LD then. I figure I’ll time our arrival to the edge of the property just as it is getting dark. We move steadily and quietly through the smoky remains the rest of the way.

  I look for any signs along the way that would tell me Moses might have been this way. The frustrating noxious haze is making it hard to see though. I again pull my undershirt up and over my nose to keep some of it out. I notice Gary doing the same as we struggle along.
The elevation starts to change as we begin walking on the circumference of the large crater between the “old mill” and the store. I can’t find anything saying Moses was here.

  We travel around the top of the oval mound caused by what seems to be a huge meteorite impact. This gives us a chance to look inside the deep depression. I measure it to be three to four hundred feet across and five to six hundred feet in length. I try and keep my balance while walking as we view inside the eighty foot deep hole. The dust clouds of thick and thin vapor floating near the bottom causes me to strain my eyes. I am astonished at what I think I see at its bottom.