Might's Odyssey (The Event Book 2) (2 page)

Great sadness filled Might’s insides as the transmission ended. The mission had obviously been a failure. The general and his men had perished.

His sad eyes scanned the room he was in. The round conference table with about two dozen chairs was the only furniture the room had. To his left, nailed into the wall were half a dozen mid sized shelves. The door of each of these shelves had a password track pad beside its handle. A frown roughened Might’s face as he looked at it. To his right was a large door, leading to God knows where. Remembering the size of the exterior of the building, he concluded that this could not be the only room it had.

Still frowning, he started for the shelves with long brisk strides. Reaching them, he paused for the briefest of seconds before raising his fingers to touch the first one. It crumbled to brown powder at his touch. He did the same thing with the five other shelves and had the same result.

A shinning substance glittering from the powdery remains of the sixth shelf caught his eye. Frowning, he leaned down and reached into the thick pile of dust like wood shavings. His rummaging produced seven keycards, which had a bluish red luminous glow emanating from them.

His frown deepened as he looked at it. There was something vaguely familiar about them. He strained his mind as he struggled to remember. It came to him seconds later. They were hover cycle keycards. The hover cycles he had gotten from both Gethsemane and Absalom had keycards like this one. You held it on your person and pushed a button to get the hover cycle going. Without it, the hover cycle would not move.

He rose to his full height and turned around slowly. There was no hover cycle here that much was certain, which meant that he had to check out the other buildings; including the rest of this one. He glanced at the door to his right as he thought this and started towards it.

A mere flick of his wrist brought the door down in a shower of wood and dust. There was a long corridor beyond it. Sighing he started down its length. The corridor ended at another door. This one was made of steel. He tried the handle but it did not budge. Taking a firm stance, he drove a hard right into it. The lock shattered into a million pieces and the door creaked open.

Striding in, he was shocked to see an entire room filled with weapons. Pulse rifles, laser cannons, nail guns and some other futuristic looking items that he could comprehend. The hard look on his face softened somewhat. At least he had something to use to defend himself if need be. That was if any of them still worked.

He picked half a dozen weapons from the racks on the wall glancing around as he did so. There did not appear to be any ammunition around that he could see, unless___

He examined the Ingram shaped guns in his hands. Heaviness flooded his spirit as he looked at them. These sort of guns were one of Swift’s favorites. Raising the guns slowly, he released a short burst at the shattered remains of the door behind him. The barrels spat out long bursts of red flame, which ripped the twisted door into shreds.

Satisfaction surged on his insides. The guns still worked. The ammunition it used was probably self-generating. Examining it carefully, he was surprised to see a strange sort of oil on it. A preservative? Who knew? He turned, making his way out of the room to continue his search of the building.

His search yielded nothing. That meant he had to search the other buildings too. That thought did not fill him with relish. The other buildings were more than twice the size of this one. Who knew where the hover cycles were kept or if they even worked? Frowning he strode towards the exit. His stomach gave a loud rumble at that instant. A sigh burst from his lips at the sound. Finding food was another top priority.

The second building was a behemoth with two stories. The ground level was only one huge room, built igloo style with reddish brown concrete ceilings. Thick clouds of dust wafted over him as he punched the door open. He sneezed violently several times before walking in.

When the dust cleared, he saw there were seven doors built into the walls in a wide circle. His face brightened as he examined each of the steel doors in turn. Maybe the doors had hover cycles stashed behind them. With a determined look on his face, he made for the first door.

Breaking it down took less than a second. To his chagrin however, he discovered the room behind it was empty. The second room contained two dozen biomechanical suits. He stepped into the room to give them a closer look holding his breath as he did so.

Brushing the dust off one, he examined the label on the inner lining.
Aziomle survival bio-suit provides full protection from radiation and small-scale explosions.
The frown on Might’s face grew harder as he remembered General Holdstatt’s message on the irradiated quadrant. The only question now was whether the suit would work.

Still frowning he unclasped it from the hook it hung from and started for the top story of the building. He discovered nothing there but a stack of strange paper, stronger and more durable than normal paper. Its surface was covered with tons of codes, numbers and words that made no sense to him. He did not have better luck with the next four other buildings. It was with the sixth that he hit pay dirt.

The sixth room had a dozen hover cycles arranged in a straight line inside it. Six of the keycards did not work. The last one however did. It belonged to a giant of a thing, which was all green with silver handlebars, and a skull carved into both of its sides. It looked like a normal motorcycle. The only difference was it did not have tires. Just two red globes, which released a humming energy that made it hover when the engine was turned on.

Pressing the start button, it chugged loudly for five seconds and went off. Trying it again, it chugged and chugged for so long that for several terrifying seconds Might was afraid it would not work.

Eventually the loud chugging became a smooth purring growl and it rose several feet above the ground. Leaving it to run for a bit, Might turned his attention to the biomechanical suit. Stripping it of the covering cellophane, he examined it carefully.

A zipper ran all the way down its front. He unzipped it slowly sighing as the piney scent of leather wafted into his nostrils. His frown deepened. The smell of leather, still fresh after more than a millennium? How was that even possible? He shed his battered battle armor and slipped on the biomechanical suit, zipping it closed carefully.

There was an instant jolt within the threads of the suit. His eyes grew wide in alarm when he felt the suit instantly harden, becoming armored as it did so. The collar extended and a hood covered his head. A thick pane of reinforced glass slid out of his neckline and joined the top of the hood sealing his face inside the small compartment with a whoosh. Cool somewhat sweet scented air filled his nostrils, blowing from where he did not know.

Clambering onto the hover cycle, he revved the engine once more and sped out of the building heading for the massive runway in front of it. Reaching the runway, the touch screen console on the hover cycle came to life. There were several dots typed out in a vertical line followed by the words co-ordinates.

Might quickly filled in the co-ordinates he had gotten from General Holdstatt’s message. The onboard computer gave several shrill beeps and a holographic map beamed out showing miles and miles of desert terrain, eventually ending at a huge dome shaped structure with the words B1 12 flickering over it.

Gritting his teeth, Might revved the hover cycles twin engines and streaked faster than a bullet in the direction where he hoped the exit was. The lights that lit up the runway began to go off after him for some strange reason. He increased speed, slowing down when he saw a large sign with the words

DANGER!! APPROACHING IRRADIATED ZONE.

A pair of huge black steel doors loomed in the distance. A worried look crept on his face when he spotted them. The doors looked thick and formidable. Getting through them would take some doing. The onboard computer spoke at that instant.

“
Obstacle detected five hundred meters ahead. Activating laser cannons.”

Two deadly looking laser cannons burst out of its sides instantly spitting out several searing red bursts. The steel doors disintegrated into a million tiny pieces showering the surrounding area with pieces of steel and wood shavings.

Beyond this door was a wide expanse of desert sand stretching to the opposite horizon. The air around this part of the desert was green and cloudy. Something told him it was green because of the radiation. With a loud vroom, the hover cycle sped across the sand crossing hundreds of kilometers in seconds quickly becoming a small dot on the horizon before eventually disappearing from view.

Earth

Gbenga’s eyes focused, fixed on Might’s face. His eyes glowed showing his barely contained excitement. He could have sworn the big guy just sighed. Was he waking up?

He realized a few moments later that that was wishful thinking when he saw Might’s breathing return to its usual steady rhythm. Disappointed he returned to his very troubled thoughts.

The doctors of the three crosses hospital felt he was unhinged. He could not say he blamed them. After all, why a man should be spending hundreds of thousands of naira every month on another man who was no relation of his made no rational sense. Not to mention the fact that most of the hospital staff felt that the man in question was better off dead.  

Of all of them he was told Might had been in a coma longest, almost a year now. The longer he spent in coma, the more likely it was that his brain functions would be impaired.

As with all things in Nigeria, no one liked stress. No doctor was willing to continue treating a patient who might never wake up. It was a waste of valuable time and money.

He sighed at that thought and leaned back in his chair glancing around his surroundings. The high ceilings, white colored walls and the myriads of machines and equipment connected to Might’s body were as familiar to him as his own skin. His phone rang at that instant dragging him out of his reverie.

He reached into the pockets of the grey slacks he wore and pulled out his Lumia 1860 Smartphone. His eyes grew sad and impatient as he checked the caller ID. It was Seyi, his wife.

Months ago, he would have been ecstatic to see she was calling him. But not now; not anymore at any rate. So much had changed since he had awoken and seen the CNN news bulletin about the brilliant scientist’s yet unknown discovery. The whole world was eagerly waiting for the unveiling of his latest scientific marvel that would be beamed to everyone on the planet at the G8 summit in December. It was going to be held in Geneva barely six months from now.

No one in the world knew that the unveiling of that discovery would trigger the event that would turn earth into Nephilim. He alone knew what the earth’s fate was. He and Seyi that is, because he had told her about it. Sadly, she did not believe him. Her disbelief strained their relationship, making them slowly drift apart.

The ringing of his phone grew more insistent. It had a function that made the ring tone louder the longer you left it unanswered. He had not quite figured out how to turn it off. He made a vow to find out how to do it. Even if he had to dig the manual out from underneath the scores of boxes he had stacked in his study.

He toyed with the idea of simply ignoring the call, but decided not to. The sooner he got it over with the better for him. He pushed the call icon on the touch screen and raised the phone to his ear.

“Yes?”

“Why didn’t you answer your phone immediately?”

Her voice, as usual sounded angry. She was obviously spoiling for a fight. He was tempted to yell at her for using that tone of voice with him, but the feeling of anger faded away quickly replaced by weariness. It was not worth the trouble to bicker.

“I have no excuse __,” He got out in a glum voice.

A heavy silence loomed from the other end. He knew what that meant of course. She was controlling her temper with great difficulty. He waited. The silence stretched to half a minute before she spoke.

“Where are you?” Her hard voice had a steely quality to it.

“Do you need to ask?”

There was a sarcastic edge to his tone. He was asking for it. She almost always threw a hissy fit when he sounded like this.

“THE HOSPITAL AGAIN???!!!” She screeched.

A sigh left his lips. Seyi never disappointed. She was so damn predictable.

“Gbenga when will this madness end?”

“IT IS NOT MADNESS!!!” He roared infuriated by her patronizing tone.

“Just because you don’t believe in something doesn’t make it a lie does it? After all, in the early nineteen hundreds, no one believed that man could fly and we all know how that turned out.”

“Don’t bring the Wright brothers into this Gbenga. That is a different thing and you know it.”

“How is it different Seyi? Most of the great men being celebrated today were at one time or the other called mad because of the things they perceived which nobody else did. The list is endless; Thomas Edison, the Wright brothers, Richard Branson and if we want to go all spiritual, Jesus Christ.”

“OH PLEASE! Don’t tell me you now see yourself as some sort of modern day Jesus Christ? Just because you have acquired the taste for religion does not give you the right to preach to me. What do you take me for? AN IDIOT??!!

“Now you are wasting your hard earned money trying to keep a man who the doctors say might be better off dead, alive. Not to mention spending millions of naira to build a bunker underneath our home because of some vision you thought you saw when you were in a coma.

“It was a coma Gbenga! You were practically dead. Its only natural you had dreams and hallucinations.”

“If that is true__” Gbenga cut in angrily. “How did I recognize the three men and one woman lying beside me in the hospital? You believe that was chance? Or the things I saw in my so called hallucinations being reported on CNN about a month after I woke up. Explain that!!”

There was silence at the other end for a few moments, and then__

“I am done arguing with you. Your dinner will be in the microwave when you get back. If you are hungry that is.”

And with a click, the connection was cut. Infuriated, Gbenga slid the phone back into his pocket. Seyi could drive a saint to rage. Let her believe what she liked. Either way he had nothing to lose.

Nothing but your marriage, a sardonic voice in his head reminded him. He quickly ignored it.

He was going to keep preparing for the event no matter what anyone had to say about it. If in December the event did not happen, he would turn the bunker into a study/guy hangout and relaxation area for him and the few buddies he had left. If it did come, she would thank him for it. That thought filled his insides with fear.

Seyi and everyone else on the planet could say what they wanted. The event was coming. It would happen in December this year, a little less than six months from now. That knowledge came from a place deep within him, from the depths of his soul.

It was like Might said when they were both still trapped in Nephilim. There were just some truths you were not sure how or why you knew. You simply knew them because they came from deep within you.

His excursion in Nephilim might be just a fallacy to some, but that wasn’t important. The important thing was he knew it was the truth. His sad eyes drifted to the twenty-one inch flat screen TV hanging on the wall to his right.

It was the doctor’s idea. According to him hearing news and other familiar sounds was helpful to coma patients. It sometimes made them able to snap out of it. There was a breaking news broadcast. Reaching towards the small table beside Might’s bed, he picked up the remote control and raised the volume.

”World-renowned scientist Gerald Summers arrives Myanmar amidst a lot of pomp and pageantry. His visit it is believed is first a humanitarian trip and second to check the progress and performance of his genetically engineered rice which produces three times the normal volume of ordinary seeds. Rice as we know is by far the most important agricultural product in Myanmar covering roughly 5.5 million hectares (13.5 million acres) of land in the fertile Irrawaddy delta region, the lower valleys of the Sittang and Salween rivers, and along the Arakan and Tenasserim coasts.

According to Gerald’s claim, his genetically engineered rice could easily produce three or four times the volume using only ten percent of the land surface being cultivated for use. That would be an amazing feat if true. Early results of the performance reveal that the seeds are so far keeping up with Gerald’s claims.

Anywhere Gerald steps in the world becomes an instant red carpet style kind of event. Since his discovery of a cure to cancer barely four years ago, the 38-year-old bachelor has shot to the limelight. Rumor has it that he will be heading to some countries in North Africa after this trip to check out his samples of maize seeds. These seeds are purported to be able to grow in any environment known to man. He claims they can grow in the desert, snow, ice or even flooded areas. Sounds mind boggling, but with the amazing Gerald Summers, anything is possible___ what makes the man so fascinating is his work in so many different fields. Most scientist stick to one field, but Gerald is somehow able to develop applications that can work in diverse fields. Is he a genius or simply something else? Time will tell.”