by S. E. Meyer
“I mark myself with the cross of Jesus,” Nathaniel confidently replied.
“Do you? If you were marking yourself with the cross of Christ, wouldn’t you touch your forehead, then lower abdomen, and then each shoulder? That would be a better representation of Christ’s cross would it not? But no, you touch your forehead, then your breastbone, and then each shoulder, just like the ancient priests did when they prayed to the sun god Baal. That’s where your ritual comes from. You see? More sun symbolism,” Braedon finished.
“Jesus is our Savior!” Nathaniel cried out. Braedon bent over slightly as he looked down at Nathaniel.
“Is he now? Well he has some competition,” Braedon said. Frank was beginning to regain consciousness and slowly sat up. John yelled out to Braedon. “That’s it Braedon, you can stop now. Stop taking your anger out on him; I’m the one you want. Can’t you see Nathaniel has heard quite enough?”
“Oh, but I’m just getting started,” Braedon boomed. “Let’s play a little game called ‘Who am I?’ shall we?” Braedon was speaking in a bubbly, yet condescending tone, as though he were speaking to a child. Frank opened his eyes and looked at John. John was beginning to shake off the blow he had received from Braedon and responded with an understanding nod as he slowly moved towards the handgun lying on the floor behind him. He gathered his strength to protect his thoughts from any intrusion. John was preparing to take full advantage of Braedon’s distraction and eagerness to destroy Nathaniel’s beliefs.
“I was born in the place known as the house of bread and was called the savior,” Braedon continued in his cheerful tone. “I was also the good Shepherd, the Truth and the Life. Hmm let's see,” Braedon rubbed his chin momentarily. “Seven people once boarded a boat with me. I was also known as the lamb and I was identified with a cross. I was baptized at thirty, born of a virgin, and a star marked my birth, which was on December 25th. As a child I was a teacher in the temple and I had twelve followers. I was tempted on a mountain and I was known as the Christ.” Braedon finished with a broad grin. “Sound familiar? Now, who am I?” he asked. He paused for a moment, but before Nathaniel could answer Braedon yelled out in a thunderous voice. “Wrong! I know what you were thinking, but you’re wrong. I just described the life of Horus the sun god, who was worshiped by Egyptians thousands of years before the supposed birth of Jesus,” scoffed Braedon. He smiled broadly. “How about another one?” he asked. “Oh this is so much fun!” Braedon cheered and clapped his hands together. “Now let’s see, I was born of a virgin. My father was a carpenter. Angels and shepherds attended my birth. I was presented with gold, frankincense and myrrh, I was baptized and I performed miracles. I healed the sick and raised the dead. I was crucified on a tree between two thieves, was buried in a cave, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. I was known as the savior, the resurrection and the only way to the Father. Before my death, I was given the title of Jezeus Khristos.” Braedon let the last two words slowly slip from his lips with an over exuberance on their enunciation. He paused for a moment. “Any ideas? Sounds awfully familiar again doesn’t it?” Braedon smiled, but Nathaniel remained silent. “Wrong again!” Braedon scolded. “You’re not very good at this game are you? I just described the life of Krishna, who is found in the Hindu religion, and once again was practiced well before the birth of your Jesus. So there you have it, your beliefs are just a regurgitation of much older ones.”
“Get thee behind me,” Nathaniel whispered. “You are like Delilah who cut Samson’s hair and drained him of his strength,” Nathaniel finished and lowered his head in defeat.
“Funny you should mention the name of Samson. That name in Hebrew actually means ‘the sun’. In ancient times the sun was often symbolized as a man with long flowing hair in the summer, representing the long days and strength of the sun’s intensity. It was also shown as a man with short hair in winter for the same reasons, showing how weak the sun was and represented how short the days were. So when ‘Samson’ or ‘the sun’ entered the house of Delilah, which is the astrological house of Virgo, he lost his hair and his strength. Virgo is an autumn astrological sign. That story is all just ancient sun symbolism. It’s merely a fairy tale about a change in the seasons,” Braedon finished. John had managed to crawl far enough to reach the gun with the tip of his fingers and started to carefully pull it towards him. He was moving as slowly as possible so as not to attract Braedon’s attention.
“As the great King Solomon said ‘Start with God, the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning,” Nathaniel bellowed.
“Did you know that the name Solomon is actually the word for sun in three languages?” Braedon responded. “Sol is sun in Latin, Om means sun in Hindu and On means sun in Egyptian. Just more references to the sun,” replied Braedon.
Nathaniel dropped off the pew onto his knees and faced the front alter. He folded his hands and began to pray under his breath. Braedon squatted down in front of him and frowned with an expression of sadness. “Aw, is the priest losing his faith?” Braedon asked and then pouted. He leaned in directly in front of Nathaniel’s face before continuing in a whisper. “Even right now, as you kneel facing the alter, you are actually praying to the sun in the east. Almost all churches were constructed to intentionally have their congregations face east. So when you go to church on Sun-Day morning,” Braedon put as much emphasis as he could on the words sun and day before continuing, “you pray to the rising sun, the Morning Star, also known as the ‘Light of the World’, just as the Pagans have for over ten-thousand years,” Braedon finished with a look of total satisfaction as he eagerly licked his lips.
There was a moment of silence before Nathaniel whispered under his breath. “No, please stop. I can’t take any more,” he pleaded as tears rolled down his cheeks.
“What, you don’t like to hear the truth? I could go on all day Father. In fact, let me tell you about…” A .38-caliber slug interrupted Braedon, cutting him off in mid sentence as the projectile ripped through his shoulder. “What?” was all he could muster with a shocked expression as John fired three more rounds; this time Braedon was ready for him. With lightning speed he dodged the spinning pieces of hot lead as they flew by and then Braedon stood straight up. “John!” he yelled. “You’re going to have to do a lot better than that if you intend on beating me,” Braedon explained and then displayed another smug grin. Frank began crawling towards John as he tried to get out of the way. John noticed that when Braedon dodged his bullets he had shifted to his right and was now standing directly underneath three enormous metal crosses hanging from the ceiling. They were dangerously pointed at the bottom and that gave John an idea.
“Dodge this!” John yelled and fired his last three rounds at the ceiling. John used his mind to force the bullets toward the thick chains holding the crosses.
“You missed me,” Braedon said laughingly, but all three bullets met their mark. Braedon looked up just in time to see the three heavy crosses simultaneously falling from above. He didn’t have time to get out of the way, but dove as far as he could. The first two crosses missed him but the third crashed through the top of his shin and into the hardwood floor below, shattering bone and pinning him in place. Braedon unsuccessfully pulled at his leg with his good arm, the other dangling uselessly beside him, but it would not budge with the thousand pound spike nailing him to the floor. John ran to Nathaniel and helped him to his feet. By the time he turned around, Frank was already running towards the back of the church and calling over his shoulder. ”Hurry John! Come on, we have to get out of here.”
“This isn’t over John!” screamed Braedon. John could feel Braedon trying to attack his mind, but the extreme pain coursing through Braedon’s body had weakened him momentarily. John and Nathaniel ran behind Frank and just as they made it through the Narthex doors they almost crashed into Pete, Eric and Jason. “If you tell me where she is I will let you all live John!” Braedon said. His voice shook through the
entire building.
“Who is that and what the hell happened? We heard gunfire,” asked Pete.
“No time to explain,” replied John. “We have to go. Now!” he urged and ran down the steps towards the back door.
“John, can’t we go back in and finish him off?” asked Frank. “We have enough weapons.”
“Believe me, I would love nothing more, but he is already growing stronger again as we speak. We have to go!” replied John in a panic. Everyone made it back to the pick-up and got in. Pete started the engine and they roared out of the church driveway heading back toward James’ compound.
“He’s not going to stop you know. He’s going to continue to search until he finds her, and us,” explained Frank. It’s only a matter of time until he figures out where we are.”
“I know,” replied John. “I’m going to take her somewhere he’ll never think to look.”
Bread for Bullets
Everyone who stayed behind at the compound pitched in and took inventory. They counted canned food, water, supplies, weapons, ammunition, fuel and dry goods. By James’ estimates they barely had enough to get everyone through the next few weeks and they would need much more if they were to trade food for more weapons. It made James nervous knowing that if they made it past the next few days; they would need to figure out a way to start growing their own food if they were to survive. He dropped the last bag of rice onto a pile at the back of the storage room and dusted his hands off on the side of his pants before turning to face Jenny. “I guess that’s it,” he said. “Thanks for all of your help this morning, I couldn’t have gotten it all done without you.” James smiled appreciatively.
“No problem, I was happy to help. Better than sitting around wondering exactly when the world will end,” she replied with a smile. James gave her a more serious expression.
“I know it’s none of my business Jen, and you can tell me take a flying leap, but I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” James waited for a response from Jenny.
“Yes James?” Jenny responded with apprehension in her voice.
“I was just wondering what is going on with you and John,” he asked and then continued with a smile. “I mean you guys used to be drooling little love sick puppies all the time and now-” James trailed off for a minute as he raised an eyebrow. “Well now not so much, to put it mildly.” Jennifer sat down on a stack of canned peaches and took a moment to gather her thoughts. James sat down across from her on a crate half full of dried beans and waited for her to respond. Jennifer slowly began to explain everything that had happened to her while John was away, including the pregnancy.
“So you see James, all that kind of puts a crimp in things,” Jenny said. She could feel her emotions rushing to the surface and she fought back tears.
“So what does John think about all of this, have you talked to him about it?” asked James.
Jenny had a surprised look on her face. “No, I mean jeez James, I just found out about Braedon yesterday, and we’ve been kind of busy between getting the hell out of there and trying to find the rest of my family,” she explained.
“Well I know John still loves you Jenny. I saw the look in his eyes this morning, it was genuine concern,” said James.
“Yes I know he does, and I still love him, immeasurably. I always will.” Jenny let out a sigh and brushed the hair from her face. “The thing is James, two people can be concerned for each other. Two people can even love each other, but not necessarily want to spend the rest of their lives together anymore.”
“That may only be a few more days Jen,” replied James. “Wouldn’t you rather be close to the person you love for those last few moments, regardless of what’s happened in the last few months?” he asked.
“Of course, but it’s so much more complicated than that James. I mean, I think I would be willing to just move past everything, but I have John’s feelings toward the baby to consider. I’m worried that if I talk John into staying with me he’ll resent the baby, and in turn, resent me. I don’t want to be with someone that resents me everyday for something I never would have even let happen if I hadn’t been abandoned. That would just bring up my own resentment towards him and then there we’d be. Just two people not really wanting to be together, resenting the fact that we were, and not willing to do anything about it,” Jenny finished. She gave up trying to hold back the tears that began to stream down her cheeks. James moved next to Jenny and wrapped his arms around her.
“I’m sorry Jen. I hate to see you like this.” He squeezed her tightly and then pulled away so he could look her in the eye. “There is one thing I do know and that’s this. Splitting up because you’re scared of what might happen if you don’t, is not a reason to be apart. At the same time, staying married because you’re scared of what might happen if you’re alone, is not a reason to stay together,” explained James.
Jennifer looked away. “What is that supposed to mean exactly?” she asked.
“It means don’t let fear of the unknown control your life. Make your decisions based on the here and now and what your heart tells you, okay?”
“Okay,” Jenny replied. She wiped away her tears with the back of her hands and then looked at James again. “James?” she asked.
“Yes Jen,” James replied, holding her gaze.
“Can you do me a favor? If we do get through this whole thing and we all survive past a few more days, will you do something for me?”
“If it’s within my power I’ll do whatever I can Jen,” James responded. He gave her a quizzical look and waited for her to continue.
“I know you went to med school and everything so if I decide to terminate the pregnancy, is that something you can help me with?” she asked. “I’m not sure yet. I have a lot of mixed feelings about the whole thing. Last I knew I would never be able to have children, and now that I have one growing inside me, I worry that it’s the only thing that will keep John and I from ever being truly happy again. No matter what I do, I feel like I’m going to lose,” Jenny finished. She could feel her stomach going into knots and the sharp pain of anxiety welling up in her chest.
“I can’t answer that right now Jen. But if we all make it through this and you’re sure that’s what you want, then maybe we can have this conversation again. You also might want to discuss it with John. I realize this is your decision, but you should at least talk to him about it. There can be complications,” explained James.
“Okay, thanks for listening James.” It was Jenny’s turn to move in close and hug James. “I’ll talk to John about it at some point. It’s just hard to do right now. He’s so distant, but yet he has an air of wisdom about him that I could never understand. Do you know what I mean?” asked Jenny.
“Yes, he seems different. But he’s supposed to save the world right? I mean he does have a lot going on in his head right now. Something like that has to be a hell of a mind job.” James looked at Jennifer with compassion in his eyes. “Just give it time Jen. You know what they say. Time heals all things.” James stood up and stretched. “Speaking of John, I would have expected him back by now. Maybe we should head up and see if anyone has heard from them,” James suggested. They turned to leave the supply room and made their way up to the outside air while Jenny gathered her composure. They reached the gate just as the blue one-ton truck squealed up to it. Pete held his head out of the window and motioned for the guards to open the barricade. Pete maneuvered the truck alongside one of the buildings and cut the engine. James and Jennifer walked over to the truck as everyone jumped out.
“Wow, nice haul,” said James as he eyed the contents of the truck bed. His smile changed to a look of concern as soon as he noticed everyone’s expressions. “What’s going on? What happened?” he asked.
“Braedon happened,” replied John as he walked around the corner of the truck. “He found us at the church.”
“Braedon?” Jenny asked with a look of shock on her face, “what was he doing there?”
“He was
looking for you,” said John as he turned to face Jenny. “And my guess is he’s going to keep looking until he finds you. We’re going to have to get you out of here.”
“Out of here?” Jenny asked with an irritated tone. “What do mean get me out of here?”
“For your own safety, and for the safety of everyone here, we’re going to have to leave,” explained John.
“And go where?” asked Jenny, holding her arms out in front of her.
“I don’t know,” replied John and then looked at James. “Do you have any ideas?”
“I sent one of my guys out this morning to set up a trade; food for weapons like we talked about. With the extra supplies you just brought back, we’ll have more than enough to make a deal. You guys can come with me when we make the actual trade. I’ll need you too Frank,” suggested James.
“Won’t that be a little dangerous?” asked John as he secretly gestured toward Jenny.
“There shouldn’t be any problems,” replied James. “I’ve dealt with this guy before, but I’ll need some extra people with me just to make sure this whole thing goes down as smoothly as possible,” James explained.
“Fine,” said Jenny. “I can help with that, but then what?”
“I don’t know,” replied John. “Let’s just get the weapons we need and then we can regroup to make a plan. I realize no one really wants to think about it, but we’re going to have to figure out what we’re going to do about going back down there,” said John as he gestured towards the ground. According to Ninti this total eclipse is only supposed to last three days and we’re already working on day two. That would mean after we get the weapons we need, we will have to come up with a well thought out plan and then head out in the morning,” John explained. He turned towards Jenny. “Oh and Jen, you’ll need to come too.”
