Angel of the Apocalypse (8 page)

“
See?
I'm a man of my word. I'm not the Father of Lies, as some
other
people would have you believe.” The Antichrist shot a scathing
glance at Gabriel.

“
No,
those are lies!” shouted Gabriel, as he slammed his fists down
on the desk. “The prophecies said that the plague would take
out one third of mankind. You didn't cure the plague, you just timed
the ending of it!”

A
look of feigned shock washed over the face of the Antichrist. He
turned to address Gabriel. “First off - fuck you. Secondly,
what if I did time it? So what? I'm not the one who just killed over
two billion people!”

Gabriel
stood up and looked menacingly down at the Antichrist. He pointed an
accusing finger at the Fallen One, and spoke. “You twist these
facts to suit your own purpose. You deceive those who would look to
you for hope. But you have no concept of love. You have no idea what
forgiveness is. You twist the words of scripture to fit your needs.
But Revelations is only a small part of the bible. You need to read
the rest of the bible to understand the full context of the
prophecies.”

The
archangel then turned his gaze to the camera. “This is not a
game. This is a war where you
must
choose sides. You're either
all in, or you're all out. The Apocalypse marks the last days where
humanity has one last chance to fight for their very souls, and it is
serious business. Deadly serious.”

The
Antichrist gave a slow, mocking clap. “Those words are bitter
comfort for the people who just lost their entire families to the
plague. I just recently lost my wife and son to the disease. Am I to
take your empty words as some sort of consolation prize?”

“
I
know damn well how your son died, Father of Lies, and it wasn't from
the plague.”

The
Devil shifted in his seat, looking rather uncomfortable.

Gabriel
continued. “You took your son Isaac to the mountains and killed
him in mockery of God's message. Try and deny it!”

The
Antichrist held up his hands in protest. “Whoa, just a minute.
Now
who's taking things out of context? God stood by and did
nothing
while his only son was crucified. I just took a more
proactive approach.”

Gabriel,
in shock from the blasphemous audacity of the Devil's comment,
remained silent.

Ignoring
the archangel, the Antichrist addressed the camera. “The end
times are upon us. Soon, God will sound the second trumpet, and the
oceans will turn to blood. The human race will be dead in a few
months unless I do something about it. So this is it, folks. I'm
going to call up my so-called 'demons', and we are going to fight for
the survival of the human race.” He then slide his sunglasses
down the bridge of his nose, and looked directly into the camera.
“Buckle up, bitches. You ain't seen nothing yet.”

Gabriel
was having none of it. “Heresy! You would save humanity with
demons? That is absurd-”

Stacey,
recognizing that things were getting out of hand, tried to calm
things down as best she could. “OK, that concludes our first
round of the debate. We'll be right back after a short commercial
break.”

The
broadcast switched to a TV commercial of a man in his fifties who was
sad because of erectile dysfunction. He was gazing out into the
ocean, with his hands in his pockets, wondering where it all went
wrong. The TV announcer then explained how the man's life turned
around after taking boner pills, and the actor suddenly put on a
plastic smile, as a perky woman half his age jumped into his arms.

The
commercial was followed by another, showing a bumbling dad who bought
the wrong cereal at the grocery store. His wife smiled while
simultaneously looked at him in disapproval. The TV announcer said,
“Don't let this happen to you. Buy Quinoa Chocolate Flakes, now
gluten free!”

After
the commercial break, the camera switched back to the newsroom,
showing Gabriel and the Antichrist locked in mortal combat. Stacey
was in the corner, screaming her head off.

Gabriel
had one hand clutching the Devil's neck, while his other hand was
holding the Devil's wrist. “You shall know God's wrath!”
shouted the archangel.

The
Antichrist's sunglasses were knocked off his face, revealing satanic
cat-eyes. His face was contorted into a snarl. With his free hand,
the Devil reach behind him, and pulled out a wicked looking blade
that was covered in dried blood.

“
Your
mortal weapons will have no effect on me, Satan!” said the
archangel.

“
No?”
replied the Fallen One, with a wicked grin. “Not even a blade
covered with the blood of an innocent?” he said, as he plunged
the knife into Gabriel's side. It was the same knife he used to kill
his son, Isaac.

Gabriel
screamed, then slumped over onto the desk, writhing in pain. The
archangel reached out to the Antichrist, and pleaded. “Brother,
do not do this!”

The
Devil paused, savoring the moment. Still holding the knife, he looked
at the archangel, then looked at the camera. “This is for those
of you who lost family to the plague. For retribution!” he
yelled, as he lifted the knife high above his head, and brought it
down in a wild arcing motion, slicing Gabriel's neck almost in half.
Blood sprayed everywhere – on the desk, on the Antichrist, even
on Stacey Kerbal, who promptly feinted.

The
Antichrist eagerly sawed through the rest of Gabriel's neck, then
held up the archangel's head with his left hand, proudly displaying
his trophy for the camera. “This is what you get for opposing
me. God has no power here. Worship me, and live. God's way is death!”
he shouted.

The
broadcast quickly switched to a static screen that read, “Technical
Difficulties...Please Stand By.” Soft piano music played in the
background.

Zack
Brannin was going out of his mind with joy. Behind the camera, he was
jumping up and down with his hands in the air. “We're up
twenty-seven points in the ratings, baby!” he yelled. He ran
over to Stacey, who was still unconscious, and gently shook her.
“Wake up,” he urged.

Stacey's
eyes opened. “What happened?” she asked groggily.

“
History
happened,” replied Zack. “We just produced the highest
rated show in TV history!”

Zack
then walked over to the Antichrist, and straightened the Devil's suit
and tie. “Great job, A.C. The camera loves you.”

“
Why
thank you, Zack,” replied the Antichrist, while handing over
Gabriel's head to the program director. “You know what? You're
a stand-up guy.”

Zack
took Gabriel's head and casually placed it on the desk, then turned
back towards the Fallen One. “So, we have thirty minutes left
in the show, and the studio phones are ringing off the hook. I was
thinking that you could stay and answer some questions from our
viewers-”

The
Devil cut him off. “Sorry Zack, but I've got an appointment
with my masseuse, Crystal. She doesn't like it when I'm late.”
The Devil turned around, picked up his blood-splattered sunglasses
from the floor, and left the newsroom.

“
Well,
shit,” said Zack, looking at the room of terrified employees.
“Hey, can we get a cleaning crew in here?” he said to no
one in particular.

*
* * * * * *

The
following night, a cluster of red stars appeared in the night sky.
People from around the world gazed at the newly formed stars in
wonder. What could they mean? Was this part of another prophecy? Then
slowly, imperceptibly at first, each star fell to Earth, arcing
across the sky as they fell into a different ocean.

From
the point of impact of each star, blood quickly spread across the
oceans. Everything the blood touched, died. Billions of fish, sharks,
whales – all life in all the world's oceans died over the
course of a few hours.

The
following day, blood from the oceans crept into the rivers and lakes,
and slowly made its way across each land mass on Earth.

Having
no natural source of water, animals died by the billions. Humans
could only drink bottled beverages. In areas where no bottled water
was available, people died by the hundreds of millions from
dehydration.

The
nations of the world were in full panic mode as they each declared a
state of emergency. Water, gas, and electric utilities shut down
across ninety percent of the world. Public transportation was
indefinitely suspended. The National Guard and militarized police
prowled the streets of each city, trying to maintain order. The dead
and dying lay in the streets, their corpses picked over by crows and
wild animals in plain daylight.

Beside
a small church in Littleton, Colorado, was a huge mountain of bloody
skulls reaching forty feet high. Sitting at the top of the mountain,
lounging in a chair made of human bones, sat the Antichrist,
laughing.

The
Fallen One took out his cell phone and dialed 666. After three rings,
a voice that sounded like a swarm of flies said, “Hello?”

“
What-up,
B!” exclaimed the Antichrist.

Beelzebub
replied. “Ah, I can only surmise by the excitation of your
greeting, that it is time.”

“
Indeed
it is. I need you to secure North America for me. I'm going to Israel
to face God's chosen one, Michael. This is it, brother. We've been
waiting thousands of years for this day.”

“
Excellent,”
Beelzebub replied. “I have something special in mind for our
friends in the United States.”

It
was the archangel Michael who first broke through the clouds,
contrails flowing from his glorious wingspan. Then, one by one, all
the angels of Heaven - great legions of winged soldiers followed
Michael and descended to earth. One million strong, the angels landed
in Israel to confront the forces of destruction. Each divine soldier
wore shimmering armor and wielded a fiery sword.

Michael
turned to the heavenly host and commanded, “The hour of
reckoning is upon us. Satan has infested God's Eden with treachery
and sin. We shall deliver this world from evil. Glory of God be with
you.” As he spoke, the ground trembled, for his voice spoke
with the conviction of truth, and radiated pure power. Michael raised
his sword, and swept it in a long arc before him.

“All
you see before you is God's kingdom now.” His eyes were glowing
with the fierce vindictiveness of God's wrath.

The
clouds overhead turned to a dark red hue. The wind stopped, and for a
moment, an ominous silence mocked the legions of angels. Then, from
each horizon, curses and demonic laughter rang through the air. From
the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, a single figure wearing a gray
business suit purposefully walked toward Michael, smiling and with
arms outstretched.

“Brother!
Have you finally decided to join me? Have you finally decided to
break free of God's tyranny and fight beside me?” the
Antichrist mocked.

The
angels stood firm, grimly standing in formation and awaiting orders.
Michael turned to his army and spoke, “The hour is upon us. The
Devil has taken this world for his own. Man has failed. Man let his
pride, lust, and greed destroy the earth that God has given them. It
is left to us, God's army, to take back what is rightfully His.”

Michael
then command the archangel Raphael to take the one million angels and
fly to North America, while he battled the Antichrist in Israel.

*
* * * * * *

Raphael,
commander of God's angelic forces, descended upon North America,
where he detected a strong demonic presence in Washington D.C. The
army of angels flew under dark skies to the country's Capitol
Building, where they saw the demonic figure of Beelzebub.

The
archangel confronted the Lord of Flies. Lifting his sword and
pointing it at Beelzebub, Raphael shouted, “Foul demon, release
your grip on this land. I command you to go back to Hell!”

The
Lord of Flies laughed, as phlegm and spit showered before him with
each chortle. The demon was enormously fat, with maggots and larva
squirming under its skin. Open sores bled rancid puss, and a smell
worse than death hung in the air. The demon spoke with cracked and
bleeding lips. “Son of light, hand of God, this land was lost
to evil a long time ago. There is nothing more you can do here. Leave
us.”

The
sword in Raphael's right hand, composed of righteous flame, arced
through the air, and sliced the demon in two. Beelzebub looked
amused, as millions of flies flew out of each half of his body and
attacked the archangel. “In the name of God, return to Hell!”
Raphael repeated, as he tried to escape the onslaught of demonic
flies.