The Remnant: On The Brink of Armageddon (34 page)

Regardless, so far it has produced nothing.  I am amused, Tsion said, but I wonder what they thought they might accomplish. If they were hoping to strike water, would they not have simply produced a geyser of blood anyway?

CHANG
TOOK
an unusual risk and surreptitiously followed the missile for water effort from his desk at work. He listened through headphones but kept an eye out for anyone walking by. Nicolae swore. What did that little project cost, Suhail? 

It wasn’t cheap, Excellency, but let’s not assume failure just yet. Assume? The Lance we sent to Tetra immediately produced a gusher that flows to this day! This is a disaster plain as day! You may be right. I am always right! Face it. You are going to have to attack this water thing another way.

Chang heard a knock and Krystall’s voice. Begging your pardon, sir, but we are getting strange reports. What kind of reports? Some kind of a heat wave. The lines are jammed. People are  Chang heard shouting and realized it came from his office and not from the surveillance. He quickly exited out and removed his earphones. He followed his coworkers to the windows, where they crowded to look outside.

Get back! Mr. Figueroa screamed as he burst from his office. Get away from the windows! But like toddlers, these people wanted to do whatever they were told not to, and anyway, they were curious. What was causing all the explosions outside? Fortunately for the crowd around the window Chang peered out from, it wasn’t the first to go. But two of their coworkers the cocky, condescending Lars and a young woman were impaled with shards of glass when the window before them gave way. As they lay writhing, pale and panicked, the steamy desert air blew in.

The first woman who knelt to aid the injured immediately reddened from the heat, and as she surrendered and tried to evade it, her hair curled, produced sparks, burst into flames, and was singed off. Others tried to drag the first two to safety, but they too had to scamper from the heat. What is this? someone shrieked. What’s happening?  Those in front of Chang quickly backed away from the window, and he saw what was going on below. Car tires exploded. People leaped from their cars, then tried to get back in, burning their hands on the door handles. Wind shields melted, greenery turned brown, withered, then became torches.

A dog yanked loose from its leash, raced in circles, then dropped, panting, before being incinerated. To the basement! Figueroa shouted, and to people who seemed reluctant to leave the fallen injured, It’s too late to help them! People watched over their shoulders as they hurried away, and by the time they reached the door, they saw Lars and the young woman flailing at flames that would soon consume them. Chang was one of the last out of the room, because he was only faking the effects of the heat. He saw the results, but aside from being aware that the temperature outside seemed higher than normal, he was impervious to the killing force.

He was glad to reach the elevator just as the doors were closing. I’ll catch the next one, he said and ran to his quarters instead. At midnight in San Diego, Rayford was awakened by insistent tones from his computer. He dragged himself out of bed and turned on the monitor. Tsion was informing his cyber-audience around the world that the terrible fourth Bowl Judgment had struck, as prophesied in the Bible, and would affect every time zone on the earth as the sun rose. Here in Petra, he wrote, by ten in the morning, people out in the sun without the seal of God were burned alive.

This may seem an unparalleled opportunity to plead once again for the souls of men and women, because millions will lose loved ones. But the Scriptures also indicate that this may come so late in the hearts of the undecided that they will have already been hardened. Revelation 16:8 9 says, `Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire.

And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.’ Rayford keyed in a request to interact privately with Tsion or Chaim; he did not care which. I know both of you will be terribly busy just now, but if either can spare a moment for the sake of the Tribulation Force, I would appreciate it. Three Quonset huts away, Ming Toy had been awakened by a call from Ree Woo.

Ree had promised to look up her mother, so maybe this was his update, but Ming was alarmed at the hour. She rested in the promise Christopher had given about her and her mother surviving until the Glorious Appearing, but that she knew was no guarantee that her mother might not live out her days imprisoned. Is everyone all right? she said. Better than all right, Ree said. Although I was not so sure when I arrived. I was warned to stay away from the underground shelter, because rumor had it that the GC had found them out and were planning a raid. The believers were busy packing and were going to sneak away in the night.

They were praying the GC would raid them later as is the custom when they were supposed to be sleeping. But as the sun rose, they realized they heard very little noise from the street. Some ventured out and saw the damage from the sun. Everything is scorched, dried up, burned, melted, wasted. No one was on the street, though charred remains were scattered. The believers are protected, but the GC and the Carpathian loyalists cannot face the sun. The underground moved by the light of day, and if the GC come for them in the night, they will be disappointed.

The believers did not move far away, but it is a better hiding place. Something they saw along the way would have been amusing, had it not been so sad. A small faction of GC had apparently tried to use fireproof suits and boots and helmets to protect themselves from the enormous heat. They lasted long enough to travel about a hundred yards; then they split up as their suits caught fire. Piles of burning material are dotted here and there in the streets.

Will you hurry back, Ree? I miss you terribly. I miss you too, Ming, and I love you. This will allow me to leave during the daytime, so I should be back early.  Be safe, love, she said.

Rayford sat on the edge of his bed, head in his hands, enveloped in the unmatched darkness provided by an underground shelter. Rayford was tired and knew he should get more sleep. But he would not sleep. This plague, perhaps unlike any leading to it, might provide unique opportunities for him and his team. Finally the signal came, and Tsion was on the other end of the private messaging system. Forgive me for not turning on the video,

Rayford said, but it’s the middle of our night here. Quite all right, Captain. Let me ask, need this be a private conversation? I am in the tech center and others may overhear. No problem, Tsion. Is everyone all right there? We are fine. We feel some extra warmth and some are fatigued, but we are apparently protected against the real effects of this plague. I know you’re busy, but I need confirmation.

Do you believe those of us with the mark of the seal of God are immune to the heat? Yes  Do you see what this could mean for the Tribulation Force, Tsion ? We could do what we wanted during the daylight hours. As long as we are hidden again by the time the heat of the day subsides and the GC venture out again, they would be powerless to interfere. I see.

I would caution that God has never been predictable with these things. We know the sequence, and we used to think that one plague began and ended before another started. But the curse on the oceans lasted well past when the same curse hit the lakes and rivers, and the oceans turned back not too long before this one hit. I would not want to see you some bright day when the curse ends.

You would be most vulnerable. Point taken. I’d like to think this would last long enough to allow us some elbowroom. I’ve never seen the world in worse shape or more people in need of help. Oh, Rayford, the world is a spent cartridge. Even before God unleashed this curse, the globe was in the worst condition imaginable. It makes me wonder how the Lord can tarry until the end of the seven years. Really, what will be left? Poverty is rampant. Law and order are relics.

Even Global Community loyalists have lost faith in their government and their Peacekeepers. The Morale Monitors are all on the take, it seems. The people who are to be out and about do not even dare venture into the streets without being armed. Cameron tells me he does not know one common citizen who does not own and carry a weapon. I hardly hear from countries where there are not marauding bands of thieves and rapists, not to mention vandals and terrorists. The best things we have out there are the 144,000 evangelists and the increase in angelic activity the Lord has so graciously allowed.

Remember, Rayford, we are down to three kinds of people now: those of us with the mark of God, those who bear the mark of Antichrist, and the undecided. There are fewer and fewer of these, but they are the ones we must reach out to. They are suffering now, but oh, 389 how they will suffer as the sun rises each day. Imagine the turmoil, the devastation. Power shortages, air conditioning overloads, breakdowns. And all this coning with half the population already gone. We are not far from anarchy, my friend.

The GC does not care to crack down because they benefit. I am amazed there remain any loyal to Carpathia. Look what he has wrought. Dr. Ben Judah, how does this square with your contention that these judgments are as much about God’s mercy and compassion as they are about his wrath?

The angel that announced the rivers and lakes turning to blood said it was to avenge the blood of the prophets. God is just and God is holy, Rayford, but I do not believe he would send any more judgments on the world now if he weren’t still jealous that some repent. No doubt some will. I know the majority will not, because of what the Scripture says about their blaspheming the name of God. Obviously, by now everyone knows these judgments are from God, yet many refuse to repent of their sins. I agree with you, Tsion.

No one could possibly argue that God doesn’t exist. There’s overwhelming evidence of his presence and power yet most still reject him. Why? Captain Steele, that is the question of the ages. You remember the Old Testament story of when Moses grew up and refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, even though he could have? The Bible says he chose `rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.’

Well, these people certainly are not Moses. They will suffer torment and lose their souls, all to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season and what a short season. I applaud your thinking that this may be the time for the Tribulation Force to step up its efforts, to help struggling believers, to find the remaining undecided and help the evangelists and the angels bring them in before it is too late. I wish you Godspeed with whatever you decide.

Buck hurried to George Sebastian’s underground quarters, where George’s wife played on the floor with their child. I’ve got to get out and see this, Buck said. Got to be careful of radar, Sebastian said. The GC would be astounded to see anybody in the air during the day.  What do you recommend? Chopper. You up for it, George?

You don’t have to ask twice. Buck had seen vapor appear above the water inlets on cool mornings, but he had never seen the Pacific emit steam as far as the eye could see. Do you believe this? he said. I’ll believe anything now, George said. Buck was reduced to silence as fires broke out all over what was left of San Diego.

The closer it got to midday, the brighter the sky became. Houses and buildings no longer began smoking and smoldering and finally kindling. Now they shimmered and shook, windows bursting, roofs curling, then whole structures exploding and sending flames and sparks showering about. George cruised back over the ocean, where Buck saw the sand change colors before creeping carpets of flame began dancing about.

The waves brought the bubbling water in, and it hissed and boiled as it touched the blistering shore. Without warning, the entire ocean reached the boiling point and became a roiling cistern of giant bubbles, sending a fog of steam that blocked Buck’s view of the sky and sun. The chopper was engulfed in white so pure and thick that Buck feared Sebastian would lose control.

Totally on instruments now, friend, George said. The helicopter bounced and shook in the soup as they thwock thwock thwocked toward the shore. Sebastian was half a mile inland before they escaped the steam cloud and peered down on the burning grasses and neighborhoods. What’s the boiling temperature of blood? Buck asked. Not a clue, George said, but he immediately banked and headed toward the San Diego River. Whatever it is, Buck said, we’ve reached it. He gawked at the huge crimson bubbles that formed and burst, emitting a fine spray that rose with the steam. Agh!  he said, grimacing and holding his nose. Let’s get out of here.

The Tribulation Force was free to come and go, as long as they were careful to plan their travel into time zones that kept them in daylight as long as possible. The only relief for the Global Community forces and citizens with the mark of loyalty was to stay inside below ground level and invent ways to take the edge off the suffocating heat. Even then, hundreds of thousands died when their dwellings burned and fell in on them.

Homes and buildings were largely allowed to burn themselves out, as firefighters could not venture out until well after dark. Gardens, crops, grasses died. The polar ice caps melted faster than at any other time in history, and tsunamis threatened every port city. Shores and coastlines were buried under floods, and the dump of dead sea creatures washed miles onto land. Had it not been for people having moved inland to avoid the stench and bacteria in the first place, more lives would have been lost. In the midst of such turmoil and grief, Rayford and Chloe worked harder than ever to rearrange their storehouses of goods and products traded through the International Commodity Co op. Knowing their time was limited, they took advantage of everyone’s obsession with finding shelter and relief from the sun.