Redemption of the Dead (9 page)

“What . . .
who . . . did you . . .” She didn’t know what she was trying to ask
but knew it had something to do with what just happened.

“You are in between worlds. I saw you
in the depths when I came for Joe. I’m sorry for leaving you, but I
had to bring him to the surface first.”

“Is he . . . is he dead?”
Oh, please, no.

“No,”
Nathaniel said. “He had fallen through the earth that day at the
bank.”

“Fallen? What . . .”

“It will all make sense
soon.”

She glanced
at her feet and to her surprise she saw she wasn’t standing on
anything despite the sensation she was. Below and all around was
golden light, with streaks of yellow, orange and white beams
dancing around them like electricity between conductors. “Am I
dead?”

Nathaniel’s expression grew soft as
did his voice. “Yes.”

“Was I
really in—”

Sorrow filled his face.
“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because you didn’t take the Atonement
provided.”

She didn’t understand.

“Christ died
for you, Billie, but you never believed that. You never decided to
give Him your sin in exchange for forgiveness. That was why you
knew you deserved to be there. You knew you had broken the
Law.”

“You’re right,” she said. “I didn’t.” Tears formed and
leaked out of the corners of her eyes.
Tears.
She’d been
told what to do to avoid damnation, but she hadn’t acted on
it.
Stunned, she touched her
cheeks, felt the moisture of her tears and realized she was back to
her old self. She was even using her bad arm to reach and touch her
face. Overwhelmed with gratitude, she said, “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me.”

She smiled gently and glanced up.
“Thank You.”

Nathaniel smiled, too,
proud.

“Is it too late for me?” she
asked.

“No.”

“I thought
once you died, that was it. You’d be wherever you wound up
forever?”

“And this is
true, but you didn’t fully comprehend the Message so you were
spared. You were also shown what happened to Joe, how the demons
saw him, how they followed us back to the surface and understood
that the timeline had changed.”

“That pocket
watch you saw,” he said, “is God’s timer. It was left in my trust,
my task to ensure its safety and come in every week to reset
it.”

“Why? Timer for what?” she
asked.

The angel’s face grew stern. “The
Apocalypse.”

“The—you
don’t mean . . .?”

“Yes, I do.
The watch is perfectly timed with the intended true End Time, meant
to be reset every seven days until I receive word I am to leave it
be. Once the clock runs out, the Apocalypse begins, its seal on the
doorway to Hell is lifted. The demons never knew where I hid it and
try as they might over the years, I had always managed to evade
them and come here to complete that which was commanded of me.
Everything changed that day of the Storm, and I was tracked there,
further, was interfered with.”

“Not by them,” Billie said. “You said
it was my fault because I caused you to miss the reset
time.”

“And you
were used by them to distract me. You see, where you were and where
you and I are in the golden light, we are outside of Time, eternal
places where all occurrences are measured and encapsulated in a
single moment instead of second by second, minute by
minute.”

“So you mean those demons can enter
Time from the outside whenever they want, go into whatever Time
they want?”

“No. What
occurs on Earth occurs and is over, lost to history. However, they
are permitted to enter in the present as part of man’s free will,
choices and temptations, items for another discussion. In the end,
they found a new way to enter by means of a portal of their own
design. There have been rumors over the centuries of these plans,
but they have never come to fruition. The portal stirs up the Storm
of Skulls and, it seems, projects a peculiar side effect: time
travel to the past. You and your friends were caught in it. Because
you were out of your own Time, that was why you couldn’t interact
with anyone in the past, except that which was supernatural—me,
them. I saw the helicopter outside and came in with the aim to
finish my business with the watch first. Only then, after I saw
you, and missed the reset time, did I realize what had happened and
the distraction that had altered the course of future history. The
seal—the watch—would have drawn them back, disabling the mass
attack, but it needed to be activated right away, which it wasn’t
and all had changed. There were events after you left, which you
have yet to discover, that prohibited this.”

“Okay, enough. My head hurts. I’ll
just take your word for it.”

“This was why one group of demons had
to tell another, instead of they themselves emerging in a point of
Time where they already were.”

“I need a Tylenol.”

Nathaniel touched her head with his
fingertips. A flood of warmth filled her forehead.

“Thanks,”
she said, and also realized her eyesight had been restored despite
not having her glasses.

“You’re welcome, and I’m sorry if I
confused you. I guess this sort of thing is natural to me so it’s
hard to explain.”

“And why doesn’t God step in and fix
these things?”

“What do you
think He’s doing right now with you and me?”

* * * *

One year ago
. .
.

The fiery lake roared as countless souls screamed from
within, all pleading for a second chance and for
mercy
, but judgment was set
and this was to be their eternal home, to be tormented day and
night forever for transgressing the laws of Almighty
God.

Vingros sneered at the souls that dared approach the edge
of the fiery pit and tried to climb out. Each one that did, he
kicked back down, sending them tumbling to the depths of burning
and pain.

When he reached the two stone pillars that stood six feet
apart at the lip of the lake, he spread his arms and placed two
enormous hands against the serpents’ fangs etched on the rock. The
ground rumbled and a six-foot-wide stone bridge rose out of the
depths of fire and spanned across to the center of the lake. As he
crossed it, he sneered and growled at the sea of human faces—now no
more than skulls—as they peered up at him from out of the flame
before a fireball would come and swiftly engulf them and drown them
in fire again.

The enormous throne of rocks and worms stood in the middle
of the lake upon a small island, big enough for a ring of guard
demons to surround it and cast down any who would dare to leave the
fiery pit and approach, and a small platform on which to kneel at
the throne’s feet. Vingros found his place and got on his
knees.

“Greetings, M
aster,”
Vingros said. “I have great news.”

The thro
ne was
clouded over in thick gray smoke, the one within concealed. It was
said that when he did emerge, very rarely did he show his true form
but instead remained as he was on the day he was cast from
Heaven—white, golden and beautiful.

The devil’s voice came from
within the smoke, low and powerful. “Yes, Vingros, what is
it?”

“Bethrez has advised his
portal is complete. I have overseen its movement to its proper
location, and I have been assured that aside from one final
inspection, it should operate as promised.”

“It must, for time is
running short. Do you have a precise timeline or are you merely
here to dangle this before me in a foolish attempt to gain leverage
or favor?”

“No, M
aster, not at
all. Based on my understanding, the word can now go out to gather
the troops from all seven circles in whichever arrangement you
wish. The portal will accommodate them all, I’m told.”

“Excellent, and so I shall bring it to pass. Go your way,
Vingros. Next we meet will be at the portal.”

“Very good, M
aster.”
Vingros stood, bowed, then turned and went back down the long rocky
bridge across the lake. Once back on the main land, he touched the
fangs on each of the pillars and the bridge sunk below the
flames.

Elation took him as he went to summon his messenger to take
the news to the other circles. They would assemble en masse while
Bethrez checked the portal one last time. From there, finally, the
Earth would be theirs and
their army would outnumber Heaven’s.

* * * *

9

Loners

J
oe awoke with
a crick in his neck, his head against
the armrest.

“What . . .?” he said and started
feeling around for his pillow. He looked over the side of the couch
and saw it had somehow gotten out from under him during the night
and wound up on the floor.

Groaning, he reached over, picked it
up, and put it under his head. As he began to relax, the soothing
release of discomfort on his neck began to take over.

He sighed and whispered,
“Awesome.”

He guessed he had probably been asleep
for five or six hours. It was enough. Even before the world went
crazy, he struggled with getting a full night’s rest.

Rolling his
legs over the side of the couch, he sat up, took a moment to fully
wake up, then hit the bathroom before double checking the kitchen
for any food. Like last night, there was nothing.

It was an invitation for trouble, but
this thing with April had to be settled. It was getting to the
point he’d be of no use to Tracy or even himself if he kept going
through life with one eye looking back over his
shoulder.

Quietly, he
went to the bedroom where she slept and gently opened the door so
as not to wake her. She lay there in the bed on top of the
mattress, her body twisted like an S, mouth open, eyes closed with
seeming effort—exhausted.

“Sorry,” he
whispered. “You’re going to hate me after this, but I got to go do
something. Hope you read my note and do what it says. Hope you’ll
understand, which I think you will.” He closed the door. “I hope.”
Walking down the stairs, he added, “Good bye, Tracy.”

Joe took the car keys from the landing closet and went out
into the street, eyes peeled for the undead. He stood there pushing
the unlock button on the keychain, listening intently for
the
ka-chunk
of a door unlocking. He couldn’t hear
anything no matter which way he faced or how high he held the
keychain. The last resort was to try the panic button, something he
didn’t want to do, but right now didn’t have a choice. He pressed
it a couple of times to no result, but on the third the loud blare
of a horn honking shook him and he fumbled with the keychain,
turning it off. The flashing red lights of the car had been a few
driveways over. Who knew why it was there. Careful any undead might
have heard the noise and had come looking, he went to the dark gray
SUV and used the key on the door. Once inside, he started the
vehicle and was relieved to see a half tank of gas.

After
driving it over to the house, he went inside. Tracy was still
sleeping. He wrote her a note, left the keys beside the piece of
paper, then raided the kitchen drawers for cooking knives. He found
two paring knives, a steak knife, a cleaver and a large meat
tenderizer mallet. He left the cleaver and mallet by the note, and
wove the remaining three knives through his belt, like needles
through cloth, keeping them secure and within easy
reach.

Joe went out
the door alone, facing the world of the undead like he had been in
the beginning.

* * * *

Laying on
her side, huddled up with her legs tucked by her chest, Tracy
shivered and reached for the blanket. Finding none, she drifted off
to sleep again only to come to some time later, still cold. She
opened her eyes, checked the bed over, upset there was no quilt or
cover or—

There’s not supposed to be,
she realized, coming back to the land of the
waking.

She
stretched, yawned and closed her eyes a few moments before the
chill became too much and she had to get out of bed to get some
blood pumping. After using the bathroom, she went down to the
living room to see if Joe was up. He wasn’t on the
couch.

“Joe?” she
said, loud enough he should hear her even a couple of rooms away.
“Hey, Joe?” Nothing but silence.

Tracy
checked the house, top floor to bottom, every room, even the
basement and near the freezer. Joe wasn’t in the house. She went to
the garage, thinking maybe he wanted some air but didn’t want to go
all the way outside. The garage was empty, too. Rubbing her arms to
keep warm as she walked, she looked out the windows to see if he
was outside. He wasn’t, but she saw an SUV in the
driveway.

“Come on,”
she said. “Are you serious?”