Tribulation (19 page)

Without
preamble, he tucked into his food. The potatoes were overcooked and
dry and the stew lacked flavor. To Sam, it was delicious.
Sometimes, he found himself craving rice but he knew that it was a
crop that was just too thirsty, needing a great deal of water to
grow – probably more than the base command could justify. The meat
was unrecognizable but Sam suspected it was goat, given that most
of the meat on the base was. Grace only picked at hers but then
again, she’d probably eaten it every day since he’d been gone.

He finished and
wiped his mouth carefully with a napkin, thinking about seconds.
Grace’s was almost untouched and he eyed it greedily. When she saw
what he was looking at, she pushed her plate at him with a tiny
grimace that could’ve been the hint of a smile.

She waited
patiently while he shoveled it into his face. “So. What do you
think Adam and the Commander want to see you about?” she asked when
he had finished for the second time.

Sam shrugged.
“No idea. Adam seems to think it’s important. Why don’t you come
and find out for yourself?”

She sneered at
him. “Me? I’m not important around here. What makes you think I’d
be allowed in some important meeting. Most of the time, people
forget that I actually exist.”

“I don’t,” said
Sam quietly, unable to meet her eye, looking down at his almost
empty plate.

She muttered
something under her breath that even Sam, with his exceptional
hearing, couldn’t quite make out, but he got the impression that
this appeased her slightly.

“So, have you
heard about the church services?” she asked finally.

Sam shook his
head, the last mouthful of food crammed into his mouth making it
impossible to speak.

“You knew there
was a chapel on the base, didn’t you?”

Sam nodded. Of
course he knew. The church hadn’t been desecrated, so it was
useless to the demons. Presumably, either demon worshippers or
other agents had missed the one on this base – probably because the
base had never been taken. He’d been there a few times but hadn’t
dared enter the place or even the grounds for that matter. He
wouldn’t take the risk. It was the first church he’d come across
which still had the power to hurt him. And that was the sort of
pain you didn’t forget in a hurry.

“Well,” she
said, smiling contemptuously, “it seems there’s been a great rush
of religious fervor going around here recently.”

Sam finished
his mouthful and wiped his lips with a napkin. “What do you
mean?”

“A few grunts
have been going around spreading certain rumors.”

“About what?”
Sam demanded.

“That if you
repent now and welcome Jesus into your heart, you’ll still be saved
and not spend eternity in Hell. Those that ask for forgiveness
during the Tribulation will be spared when Jesus returns. That’s
all the people around here care about now.”

“I think
there’s more to it than that,” said Sam. “Before the Rapture, none
of these people believed in God or Jesus. But how can they not now?
They’ve seen it with their own eyes. They witnessed the Rapture.
Have been preyed upon and stalked by demons. Some might have even
seen angels. Everything predicted by the Bible is now coming true.
How can you still be in denial in the face of that proof?”

Grace snorted
dismissively. “They may have said the words, but it’s only for
their own self-preservation. Would you want to spend the rest of
eternity in Hell?” She paused and looked at Sam slightly askance.
“Well, maybe you’re not exactly a great example.” Sam smiled wryly
at that.

“So anyway,”
she continued, “the word is that if you say the right things or
perhaps make yourself a martyr, He’ll forgive you when you die or
get taken to Hell and eventually you’ll be allowed back into his
kingdom – whether it be in Heaven or on Earth after Jesus
returns.”

“So you aren’t
going to welcome him into your heart?” he asked.

Grace looked at
him for a moment before answering. “If Jesus is so good, why did he
take my parents and leave me all alone in the world? Why did he
allow everyone else I’ve ever known, including my aunty and uncle,
to be taken to Hell to suffer endless torment? Is that the sign of
a good and caring being? I don’t think so. You probably should
reconsider as well. It’s alright for everyone else to redeem
themselves and be forgiven but not you. It doesn’t matter what you
do, you won’t be welcome in Heaven or in his Kingdom on Earth.”

Sam shrugged,
not willing to get into this debate, primarily because a part of
him agreed with her and it touched a raw nerve. Despite everything
he’d done, everything he’d suffered and given up, he would never be
allowed into Heaven. And he was one of the believers. He’d saved
many innocents, just like he’d been instructed to do by the
Archangel Gabriel. And his reward? Probably eternal suffering in
Hell. Sam knew this was unfair but had resigned himself to it years
ago. It didn’t mean it still didn’t hurt though. It was an open
wound, which had a tendency to fester more and more these days.

“You should see
them,” smiled Grace. “Piling up in the church. Standing room only.
Most of them spill out into the grounds. I don’t know how they can
hear the soldier-turned-preacher up in the pulpit. The hospital is
almost as bad. You’d think God saved them and not the antibiotics.”
She shook her head sadly.

“Wouldn’t it be
easier for you just to accept Him rather than go through all this
resistance?” he asked.

“Who?” she
asked innocently.

“You know who,”
he said. “Don’t be difficult. Do you really want to spend the rest
of eternity in Hell when you can avoid it? You, more than anyone
else around here, know what it’s like.”

Grace suddenly
lent forward, her face intent, lips pursed. “You think you know me,
don’t you, Sam?” she hissed. “But you really don’t. You’ve never
bothered to ask. If you had, you’d know that my parents were
do-gooders, true believers. Went to church every Sunday. They tried
to make me read the Bible but I wouldn’t. Didn’t want to. It seemed
pointless to me. And you know what? After a while they gave up –
gave up on me. Left me to my own devices. Why didn’t they try a
little harder? If they had, I wouldn’t have been left here all by
myself. They must have known what could happen. Did I really mean
that little to them?”

“I’m sure you
meant everything to them,” said Sam, meaning every word. “It sounds
like they tried but you were…stubborn.”

Grace sat back.
“You’re not making me feel any better.”

“I know and I’m
sorry. But are you really going to be so stubborn that you’ll allow
yourself to be taken to Hell again when all this is over? I know
you’re angry, but there are limits.”

She shook her
head. “Not for me, there aren’t.”

“Don’t you want
to see your parents again?”

“Of course I
do! How can you ask me that?” Her voice was rising again. Curious
glances were cast in their direction. She lowered her voice. “But I
don’t want them to say I told you so. I don’t think I could take
that.”

“So what are
you going to do then?”

She shrugged.
“I don’t know but there has to be another way.”

They sat in
silence for long moments. Sam didn’t know what to say in the face
of her stubbornness. He really didn’t know what else to say to
convince her. It was her decision to make, no-one else’s.”What have
you been up to anyway?” he asked, keen to change the conversation.
He also finally remembered to take a more personal interest in her.
Years earlier, Aimi had told him that it was important to ask women
questions about themselves. He hadn’t quite worked out why yet.

Grace shrugged.
Lately, she seemed to do that even more than Sam. “Nothing much. I
went out on a couple of supply missions with the grunts but it was
hardly anything to write home about. Found some food and guns at an
old abandoned homestead. Even brought in a few stragglers that the
demons had missed. Other than that, pretty boring.”

“You should
come out with me next time,” he said, trying his best to connect
with her, trying desperately to repair the rift between them. She
never gave him the chance.

“With the great
and mighty, Sam? Little old me?” She rolled her eyes. “Surely, I’d
just slow you down. Heaven forbid that I might get captured
again.”

Sam picked up
his tray and stood. There was no point in talking to her when she
was in this mood. “I’ll see you later,” he said.

On his way out,
she called his name and he turned.

“Do you ever
think about him?” she asked.

Sam stared at
her for a moment, at a complete loss as to what to say. Like they
shared a limited form of telepathy, he knew exactly who she was
talking about.

Joshua.

Without another
word, he turned and strode out of the mess hall, trying to
outdistance the dark memories of the past.

Beightler Armory

“
The coming of the
lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed
in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders…”
2
Thessalonians 2:9

S
am sat in a chair in the waiting room outside Colonel
Wheat’s office. Adam sat in the chair next to him, taking up both
his armrest and Sam’s with his bulk and shifting restlessly. Chairs
weren’t designed for someone like Adam.

A desk sat in
one corner. Behind it, sat a young man in the uniform of a
lieutenant. The Colonel’s aide. Other than show a little deference
to Adam, he’d basically ignored them since they had arrived. The
intercom buzzed.

“The Colonel
will see you now,” he said.

Both he and
Adam stood. The lieutenant opened the door for them into the
Colonel’s office. Inside, framed by a large window overlooking the
base, was the Colonel desk, dominating the room with its size. A
large leather chair, tattered but still useable, was filled with a
man built almost as solidly as Adam. He stood as they entered,
revealing a frame that was almost as tall as Sam’s. A very imposing
figure, this Colonel Wheat, and Sam had found him to be fairly
straight forward and honest too. He hadn’t warmed to him like he
did Adam, but their relationship was still solid.

Two chairs were
set in front of the desk. Colonel Wheat bade them sit and only then
did he resume his seat.

“Welcome back,
Sam,” he said, his solid, clean-shaven face breaking into a glimmer
of a smile. “Those people with you were in pretty bad shape but
we’ll have them sorted out in no time. Some of them look like they
could make decent soldiers, too. I need some good bods on the
towers.”

He paused and
looked between Sam and Adam. “I see you’ve renewed your
acquaintance with Adam here. Funny story that.” He opened his desk
drawer and rummaged around inside for a moment, finally pulling out
a thick cigar and a gas lighter. Sam often thought that Colonel
Wheat smoking a cigar was almost a caricature – he just looked so
much of what he’d come to expect of a Colonel, more even than
Colonel Sumner back in L.A. Colonel Wheat lit up and exhaled,
sighing with obvious pleasure.

“These are in
short supply these days. Next time you’re out, Sam, I’ll have to
get you to find some more for me.”

“Sure,” said
Sam, noncommittally.

“What was I
saying?” he asked.

“Funny story,”
said Adam. Sam could hear the impatience in his voice. The Colonel
had a tendency to get distracted sometimes.

Colonel Wheat
snapped his fingers. “Right! The Major turns up about a week ago.
We get to talking. He mentions something about a half-demon boy he
ran into a few years back at Black Ridge. I tell him we’ve got our
own demon boy right here. Anyway, turns out you’re the same person.
Small world, eh?” The Colonel took another long puff of his cigar
and looked at Sam to see if he’d managed to get a reaction. The
Colonel knew full well that Sam didn’t like to be called demon boy,
so Sam suspected he was being tested.

When Sam said
nothing, the Colonel continued. “So, have you two had a chance to
swap stories? No? Well, I guess before we get started on today’s
business, you had better fill Sam in. Especially considering the
two things are connected. Major?”

Adam took the
hint. “Well, I gather from the Colonel that you know about Black
Ridge?” he said, addressing Sam.

“I passed by
that way,” said Sam. “Colonel Sumner said he’d lost contact with
you. I assumed the worst but wanted to check it out for myself.
When I got there, it looked like demons had worked the place
over.”

Adam nodded.
His eyes took on a faraway look as he relived the events that took
place three years earlier. “You’re not far wrong there. After you
left, the demons came in force for a week. Horned demons, Astaroth
– you name it. We resisted for the first few days but they wore us
down. They’d knock down the walls as soon as we could repair them.
Eventually, we just ran out of ammo. Even then, we held them off
with spiked clubs and slingshots loaded with raw iron nuggets we
found in the caves. But, on the last night, they came at us with
more force than ever. Over a dozen Horned demons. You couldn’t see
the sky through the wings of the Astaroth and the Lemure covered
the killing ground in their thousands. Some of us got taken. A few
tried to hold them off while the others made their escape. We
unblocked one of the tunnels around the back of the mountain. The
demons weren’t smart enough to think of that. Most got out that
way.”

“What about
you?” asked Sam.

“I stayed
behind with the handful of volunteers. We had to buy the others
some time.”

Sam guessed as
much. Adam wasn’t one to abandon a sinking ship at the first sign
of water. He would’ve stayed until the bitter end. “So what
happened?”