Copyright (c) 2015 by Randall R. Peterson ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This is a work of fiction. All persons, locations and actions are from the author's imagination or have been used in a fictitious manner.
ARMAGEDDON
Part
2
By
R. Peterson
“…and there were voices, and thunderings, and
lightnings, and an earthquake.” Revelations 8/5
News of the
unprecedented Parthenogenesis Conception had spread worldwide. Outside Mercy
Hospital, television crews filmed the ever-expanding violent religious-protests
and gave live updates.
Doctors from over
two hundred different parts of the globe had flown into New York City. They all
wanted to examine this medical miracle. Pediatrician Edward Dickens felt that
his patient, John Bingham, had enough on his plate. However, in the interests
of professional courtesy, Dr. Dickens had agreed to this question and answer
session. Two officials from the American Medical Journal were also present.
Once the visiting doctors were assembled in the hospital’s largest conference
room, Dr. Dickens took a deep breath and
prepared to astound his audience.
“My esteemed
colleagues,” Dr. Dickens began. “I regret that each of you has not had the opportunity
to examine the John Bingham personally but I hope the information provided to
you by my assistants will be of help. As you can see from the latest
ultra-sound images, the fetus is now sixteen weeks; three days, and twelve
hours old. Both the patient and his unborn
child are in stable condition.
An Arnold Schwarzenegger
lookalike stood and introduced himself as Jonathan M. Wickers M.D. - a
Pediatric Surgeon from South Africa, then asked “What we and other members of
the World’s Medical Community are most interested in is how long before the
fetus is aborted? We are running out of time. Does not New York State law
prohibit discretionary termination after twenty-four weeks?”
A physician from France stood and agreed.
“The sooner this unwanted child is destroyed the better. As you all know, our world
is rapidly descending into chaos. Nous n'avons pas cette abomination à ajouter
à nos problèmes (We don’t need this abomination to add to our problems).”
“Ladies and Gentlemen!” Doctor Dickens
raised his hands and quieted the assembly. “Our medical team at Mercy Hospital has
no plans at this time, or in the foreseeable future, to terminate this
pregnancy without just cause.”
A chorus of angry protests greeted this
statement. Just as Dr. Dickens restored order, George Gobalis a scientist
working in London’s National Institute for Medical Research slapped his folder
on the table. “The consensus of what’s left of this smoking world is that this so-called
child will most likely carry with it the genetic capability to reproduce
without sexual contact! How can we as humans hope to survive our present
cataclysms if we allow this aberration to spread and destroy our very species?”
Two hours later the meeting broke up
with half the world’s medical experts demanding death the other a wait-and-see
approach. “I’ll never give in to those bastards!” Dr. Dickens told Obstetrician
David James as they walked toward the cafeteria.
“You
might not have any choice,” James told him. “I understand Senator Grossman from
Kentucky has introduced legislation cutting off any funding to any federally-funded
hospitals that engage in what he and other Republicans are calling Satanic Generation.”
“He’s
just looking for enough votes for the Presidential nomination,” Dickens said as
he picked up a copy of The New York Times from a table. Dual blazing headlines
announced: ANKARA IN TURMOIL AFTER RUSSIAN NUCLEAR STRIKE! … ISRAEL INVADES
EGYPT.
“And
he may get them,” James replied as he placed a corn-beef sandwich on a plastic
tray. “I understand Jason White has pledged support on behalf of all sixteen
million members of his New World Church of The Divine Light … that’s a lot of hate
and a lot of television ads.”
“If
Texas and the other Bible-Belt states make good on their promise to succeed
from the union, our divided country might once again need two Presidents.”
Dickens threw the two day-old newspaper in a nearby trashcan.
“And
the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and
to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.” Revelations 9/1
Amna and Dani crept into John’s
hospital room and woke him. “Dress quickly,” Amna told him. “Conner is waiting
for us in the parking lot.”
“Is it morning?” A sleepy John
Bingham glanced at the wall; a plastic digital-clock in the shape of a ghostly running
white-horse read 4:19 A.M.
“Not for another two hours,” Amna replied,
“…but it is time to go.”
Dani
handed John the clothes she had brought for him and then turned her back while
he dressed.
“What’s it like,” she asked, “… to
have a baby in your stomach?”
John
laughed. “It feels like when you’ve eaten too much in a Kosher Deli and the leg
of lamb comes back and kicks you the next morning,” he said.
“I didn’t know you were Jewish,”
Dani said. “How’s that going?” She remembered the furious Rabi on television
denouncing homosexuality.
“Pretty good since I decided to
became a Quaker,” John said as he tied his shoes. “It’s about the only religion
left in the world that doesn’t punish you for loving all men as yourself.”
Amna
opened the door and looked into the hallway. “By the grace of God, the nurses
and the guards are all sleeping,” he said, “… but come … we should still use
the stairs. We have a long way to go.”
-------*-------
Jason
White sat at a table with Idaho Governor “Bob” Osman and Utah’s Larry Jennings
and a box of Crispy Crème Donuts. “I’m sure as commanders of your own state
militias you can understand my predicament,” he said. “We know Satan and his
helpers have delivered the demon child safely
into Oregon, probably onto Mount Hood itself.” White spooned extra sugar into
his illegal Starbucks’ coffee. “Under our present treaty with California we are
unable to advance west of the Cascade Mountains … but you people have no treaty
with these troublesome liberal factions.”
“Support
for this so-called son-of-man demon of yours has been pouring in from all over
the world through the damn West Coast,” Osman said. Under universal treaty,
none of us can use our nuclear arsenals. It will take at least ten divisions to
assault your mountain. What’s in it for us?”
“A
large piece of the pie,” White promised. He took a white folded cloth from his
coat pocket and laid it on the table. ‘I have just signed an alliance with
Texas, Florida, Mississippi and Georgia. Once the child is destroyed we can
once again re-unite this country and assist our floundering over-seas brothers.”
“With
you as President?” Jennings said.
“Of
course,” White told them. “We might have to change the rules of nuclear
engagement, but there will be riches beyond belief for the taking in my new
order and I will need regional commanders; especially in Europe.”
“I
hear most of Britain has been reduced to rubble.” Jennings unfolded the flag and looked at the blue lamb-design
on a white background.
“All
except for a few villages in the
South,” White said. “Those people in Wales must lead charmed lives.”
“So
this is the flag of Amna and those who follow him?”
“Yes,”
White said. “I’ve had a thousand of these made. They are in a truck outside.
What I want you to do while you are waiting for reinforcements, is capture a
few innocent children and burn them alive in cages. Always make sure to film it
for the media. Behead large numbers of Christians, especially those who hate
homosexuals and minorities. Make sure this flag is flying prominently at all
the places of highest carnage and senseless killing.”
Osman
laughed. “Where did you learn such ruthless tactics,” he said.
“One
of my Generals was a CIA chief in the Middle-East for years,” White said. “We
know how to make our friends, and those who are unsure of our intentions, hate enemies
of our choosing.”
“Give
us time to consult with Arizona and Nevada,” Osman told him. “If they come on
board, a few well-placed non-nuclear missile-strikes into the less affluent
areas of Los Angeles should soften the liberals support for their radical
northern neighbors. What’s a few dead Spics, Jews and Niggers? Then we can
climb that mountain with minimal loss of resources … and chase away your
so-called Devils.”
“Don’t
tell me you actually believe all this religious garbage?” Jennings winked at
the church leader.
“Religion
has always been a treatment for fear,” White said. “People want to believe they
are protected by a higher power.”
“And
are they?” Osman reached for a donut.”
“As
long as they are of use to me,” White snatched it from his hand, “… and as long
as they will call me their God.”
“And there came
out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the
scorpions of the earth have power.” Revelations 9/3
Amna
watched as Conner and several others raised the blue emblem of the lamb on a
newly erected flag pole in the early morning light just inside the natural compound
high on the side of Mount Hood in Oregon State. Recent eruptions from the
centuries-old dormant volcano kept aircraft from flying overhead. The old flag
and pole had been completely riddled by automatic gunfire. “Your devotion to
symbols is commendable,” Amna said. “But they are often used against us.”
“Thousands
have died fighting for us at the base of the mountain,” Conner told him. “They
need to see this as a sign … to know that the unborn Lamb of God is still safe.”
“For
many centuries the weak have been slaughtered by those who carry crosses,” Amna
said. “Great evil has been wrought on the world by those who rally to the
banners of nations and not to the beating hearts of those who suffer.”
“Would
you have us take this down?” Conner was asking without malice and was obedient.
“Let
it stand for a time,” Amna said. “Those who are about to die must know that we
honor their sacrifice.”
Amna
and Conner watched as Dani’s female cat Tripper, now full grown, pounced on the
ragged flag fluttering on the ground and tore playfully at it the blue lamb
with her claws. One of the former Quaker men guarding the compound rushed over
and pushed a giggling Dani aside and tore the flag away from the cat. “Hundreds
have died for this flag,” he scolded as he waved it in the air.
“And millions will die for this
child,” Amna said. He picked up the now-sobbing Dani and brushed dirt from her
face.
-------*-------
“Get the men into ranks and bring up
the artillery,” Major General Lemont Hicks ordered. “The Devils’ defenses are
about to fall.” Twenty, M-270 mobile missile launchers were rolled into
position around the mountain as the troops assembled. “These mutated scabs of
the Earth are holed up in every crack and crevice in the rock,” Hicks told his
officers. “Blast high on all sides of the mountain and bury those who protect
the demon child in landslides. There can’t be more than a division of the
#&%$&$# left.”
Lemont
looked through the smoky haze with a pair of night-vision field glasses. “Once
the defenders are buried, send in the infantry. Take no prisoners except for
women and children. These will be trucked to our media outlets in Salt Lake
City. I’m sure many of these young girls following the Devil’s lamb wanted to
be in the movies back when we had schools.” Lemont laughed. “Too bad their first
appearance has to be in a horror film.”
“We found this woman and others
trying to sneak through the lines … probably to join Amna,” A Sargent and four
MP’s dragged a battered woman and several younger women to where Hicks
consulted with his officers. “She looks like the one you have been seeking.”
“Carla
Garafalo!” Hicks smiled. “We were wondering when you’d show up.”
“I want to see Dani, to tell her
that I have changed.” Carla struggled against the men holding her.
“People like you never change,”
Hicks said glancing at her and staring at the other women. He licked his lips. More
than a few were still in their teens, wearing working-girl prostitute attire.
All were dirty and in need of baths. Some of the officers had already begun to
strip them and wipe-away the grime.
“Leave them alone,” Carla Garafalo
swore. “We have all heard the voice in the night. And I have seen many things
through my daughter’s eyes. We know that a new
light comes into this world.”
“But how will you pass the many
nights until that light comes?” Hicks signaled one of his officers and a large
crate of wine was opened at his feet. A five pound plastic storage bag filled
with cocaine lay on top. From somewhere on a truck radio, CD digital music
began to play Earned It by The Weekend. The sound was like cool
water-vapor drifting on a breeze after a scorching fire … and the terror
stopped.
Hicks
held a bottle of Reunite Lambrusco high
in the air along with the cocaine and smiled when he saw the young girls stop
struggling. Carla was silent. “I’ll bet it’s been a long time since you’ve had
a drink.” he said.
“And I saw another mighty angel come
down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and
his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.” Revelations 10/1
Dani
held Amna’s hand as they climbed to the top of Mount Hood. Amna gave her a small white stone to hold as they made
their way along a treacherous path. ‘What’s this?” she asked.
“I think it must be a magic stone,”
he told her. “It is very important.”
“Will it keep me from falling?”
“No,” he said. “But I will.” He
grasped her hand and pulled her to safe spot. They stared down into a deep
ravine that plummeted almost a thousand feet below them. “I found that rock on
the ground when I woke up this morning. It wasn’t there yesterday, so I think
God left it for me.”
“Is
everything that God makes magic?”
“Yes! Every drop of water, and every
grain of sand, contains our creators’ finger prints.”
It
was cold near the top of the mountain and Dani’s teeth chattered. “I know some
bad people want to kill John because he’s a man and he’s going to have a baby.”
She bit her lip. “Will this magic stone help him?”
“I don’t know,” Amna said. “How does
a six-year old like you learn so many things?”
“I do a lot of texting with my
friends,” Dani said and then she smiled. “And I’ve even watched Fox News on TV.”
-------*-------
The roar of the incessant barrage
against the mountain rumbled in the distance as General Lemont Hicks looked
over the geological images that an aide handed him. All of the unstable areas
on Mount Hood had been clearly marked. “Make sure the artillery commanders continue
to target their missiles at the weakest points. What we are looking for is to
bury the defenders, not blast them apart.”
“We have over six-hundred
non-nuclear war-heads stockpiled,” the captain of artillery forces told him.
“How long do you want to keep this assault going?”
“Until every one of these enemies of humanity protecting Amna and
the unborn demon child are buried,” Hicks told him.
A
messenger from an artillery group on the far eastern side of the mountain
rushed forward and then saluted the commanding general. “All of the hostiles in
our area are starting to surrender,” he said. “We have more than three hundred
blood stained men and women coming down the mountain waving white flags. What
do you want us to do?”
“Make sure they are unarmed and then
bring them to me,” Hicks ordered.
After
the messenger left, Hicks turned to his aide. “Gets some rolls of barbed wire
and have some of the men build an enclosure about a hundred yards in diameter.
Fill the entire inside with kindling-wood, logs, branches and anything that
will burn. Tear down a few houses and barns if you have to. Have some of the
men bring about twenty barrels of gasoline and diesel fuel.” Hicks was almost
dancing … his men had never seen him so happy. “These defenders of the Devil
will be filthy when they get here …” His red glowing eyes looked lit from
within. “They are going to all need spiritual baths … and it’s time we had an
old fashioned bar-b-q.”
An
hour later, a sergeant rushed up and saluted Hicks. “Sir, the defenders who
surrendered are almost here … and at least half of them are children.”
“Good,” Hicks laughed. “No one
screams like a child.”
-------*-------
They
were at the top of the mountain. A ferocious wind was blowing and a pinnacle of
rock jutted upward from the ancient volcanic crater, like the axel of a buried wheel,
rising two hundred feet to become level with the rim. “That is where we must
place the stone!’ Amna pointed to the top of the spire. “It’s too steep,” Dani said. “We didn’t bring
any ropes and there aren’t any places to put our feet.” The wind was whipping
her blonde hair about her face like a flag. “God never asked you to do anything
unless he provides a way,” Amna told her. He wrapped his coat around the child
and pulled her close. “We must find a place safe from the light,” he said.
Dani
and Amna found a tiny cave made by a half a million year old air pocket formed
in molten lava and squeezed inside just as lightning began to strike.
The
first bolts broke away half the spire in a jagged diagonal and those that
followed cut steps into the stone like 53,540 degree Fahrenheit chisels …
hotter than the surface of the sun.
“I’d
sure hate to make God angry,” Dani gasped. “He can be scary!”
“It takes a lot to make him mad … and God
always cries before he lets go … just like I do,” Amna said.
The
steps were finished. “You have to take the stone to the top and place it there,”
Amna told her. “This will protect the child as well as those who wait for the
light.
“I’m scared, I want you to come with
me,” Dani cried.
“I am old and even if my legs were
broken I would go with you,” Amna told her. “But the holy words say that she must bring forth the man child. You
are the great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon
under her feet, and upon your head is placed a crown of twelve stars!” Amna
placed both of his hands on the child’s head and great lights appeared like the
colors from the north to be seen by all men of the world.
And
Dani was like the light of twelve stars, as she climbed the still-smoking steps
to the top of the mountain.
-------*-------
Gracie Lewis went looking for
Reverend White; she was out of cocaine almost out of champagne and was starting
to get antsy. She could hear White’s voice asking questions from behind the door
of his private office, but she couldn’t hear the voice of the other person …
only a strange scratching sound each time they spoke.
“The stone is what protects my men
from reaching the unborn child?”
“… but it is the stone that creates
these lights from Aurora, the Roman goddess of dawn?”
“All that I do … or forever will do …
is for the glory of Wormwood.”
“I will … I will cleanse the Earth
of this foul abomination!”
Gracie
opened the door just a crack. White was hunched over his desk talking into a smoking
Folgers’ coffee-can filled with buzzing flies. A stench like decaying corpses
filled the air. She closed the door and decided to look for her day’s happiness
in another place.
-------*-------
John
Bingham pushed down the sheet the nurse had pulled over his swollen abdomen as
soon as she left the medical tent high on the side of the mountain. Conner
Wilson brushed past her on the way inside. He looked at his old friend and
smiled. “How are you?” he asked.
“All
three of the doctors say I could give birth at any time,” John said. “I think
they are getting ready to do the “C” section since there is no way to do this
thing naturally.”
“People
in the camp keep asking me if I’m the father,” Conner said. “They must think
gay men have supernatural powers.”
“You
do,” John said, “but the powers you have, have nothing to do with procreation.”
“You’re
talking about artistic endeavors … singing and dancing those kinds of things?”
“No,
I’m talking about the focused power that comes from quiet determination,” John
said. “The strength that comes from accepting shame and ridicule from others
without seeking vengeance. The silent power that comes from accepting yourself
as you are and then finding that you have the ability to accept others.”
“You
sound like a paragraph from one of those overly-sentimental, over-sugared,
emotion-books … perhaps Chicken Soup for
men who find themselves Pregnant?”
“You’re
right,” John laughed. “I hope they hang you and all your queer friends before
the rest of us fall into treachery.”
Both
Conner and John laughed and then Conner grimaced in pain. “I think it’s time,”
he told Conner, “better get the doctors.”
-------*-------
“And when they shall have finished
their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make
war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.”
Revelations
11/7
Jason White smiled as two men
dragged Carla Garafalo into the Salt Lake City conference center that used to
belong to the Mormon Church. She was bathed and dressed in a three-thousand
dollar Versace evening gown but her
eyes appeared unfocused … she looked high. “I trust you have been well taken
care of?” His sugary voice dripped with artificial sweetness, like a forest honeycomb
… covered in black wasps.
Carla leaned on one of the eight
television cameras used to broadcast church messages. “I want to see my
daughter,” she slurred her words, “to tell her that I’m sorry for bringing her
into a world where I was unable to care for her.”
“I’ve brought you here so that you
could send a message to her,” White said. “But first I want you to watch a
special program that is being broadcast live from the base of Mount Hood in
Oregon. Do you know that many who search the scriptures for answers are already
calling the long extinct volcano where the Devil is making his last stand, Armageddon?”
“I don’t care about your armies or
your Devils,” Carla told him. “I only want my daughter brought back to me
alive.”
Carla
Garafalo watched in horror as hundreds of wounded men, women and children were
doused with gasoline and then pushed into a large fenced enclosure. A mountain
sized pile of wood filled the center. A ring of fire was ignited around the
outside of the circle and the throngs of people were forced to climb the wood
pile in the center to flee from the burning. Their screams froze the blood in Carla’s
veins as she watched people fight one another to escape the growing flames. She
passed-out twice, and each time White’s disciples threw cold water in her face
and forced her to watch.
“What would you say to your daughter
if you knew you could save her from this … rapture?”
White motioned and two cameras zoomed in on Carla Garafalo’s horror stricken
face.
-------*-------
“And
she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron:
and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.”
Revelations
12/5
The
only working television at the top of Mount Hood was inside the tent where Dani
Garafalo stayed. All the other solar and gas powered generators were being used
for mostly medical purposes. Dani was alone. Amna had left the tent to be
present at the birth.
A
news program showing aurora borealis-like lights streaming into space from the
top of Mount Hood interrupted the cartoon program that Dani was watching. The
news commentator said the unusual lights could be seen from the International Space
Station. Several military analysts debated whether the lights were the result
of the intense fighting going on around the base of the mountain or the
rumbling mountain many thought was going to erupt.
Dani pulled a wooden doll house that
Amna had made for her from under her bed and began to set it up. She had several
Bratz dolls and a few action figures and
she thought about creating a make-believe dance party. Grown-up things did not
interest her. Suddenly, Jason White appeared on the TV screen from his New Church of the Divine Light headquarters
in Salt Lake City. He began to talk about the fighting, and then what looked
like a female war refugee suddenly stood next to him. Dani’s mouth gaped open
as she stared at the woman she hadn’t seen for months.
Carla
Garafalo approached the microphone. “Dani, if you’re out there listen to me,”
she said. Her face was a mixture of fear and anguish. “Remove the stone you placed
at the top of the mountain and come down to me.”
“Momma!”
Dani stood up and burst into tears. From the other side of the compound, a baby’s
feeble cry sounded for the first time … in the approaching darkness of the
burning world.
To
be continued …
