Great White Throne

by J. B. Simmons

  She showed no signs of harm from our attack on Patmos. Her black-scaled body sauntered up to the leader of the men. She leaned close to him, and her forked tongue slid out of her mouth as she whispered something in his ear. He craned his neck toward her.

  I wanted to shout a warning, but I felt a sudden lump of jealousy in my chest that she would entice this man, and not me. The light of the setting sun made her body glow like molten lava. I stepped forward, but something held me in place. Laoth’s grip was firm on my arm. It jarred me to my senses. God help me.

  Gabriel moved ahead of us alone. He spoke in the same strange language, as if issuing a command. Then he drew a sword of blazing flame. He hadn’t been carrying a sword. It seemed pulled from another place, like his wings.

  Jezebel, still pressed close to the man, put her hand on the curve of her hip. “A pleasure as always, Gabriel,” she said, pronouncing his name like it was forbidden fruit. “The Master looks forward to seeing you. He says it’s been too long. Give me the child and the seer, and you may leave without pain.”

  Gabriel replied in the strange language, with more words than before. Whatever he said made Jezebel take a step back, though her pose remained confident.

  “You’ll have to kill all of them,” she said. “You’ve had your time on earth. This is our time.” She ducked behind the leader of the group, and they unleashed fire at us.

  In a blink, Gabriel, Laoth, and Cassiel flashed ahead. Dumah wrapped Naomi and me tight in his arms, so that his broad body covered ours completely. I couldn’t see past him, but I heard the gunshots. I heard the bullets hitting Dumah’s back like dull thuds, his grunts of pain, and the screams beyond him.

  The gunshots stopped. A heavy rumbling replaced them, like an avalanche crashing toward us. Dumah stood and turned. His back bore a hundred dark holes. Blood soaked through his shirt. The giant angel staggered as he stepped forward.

  Up ahead, an army of dark little creatures surrounded the angels. Gabriel and Laoth moved among them like flickering flames in a bed of coals. But the coals were moving, too, roiling chaos up to the angels’ waists. Cassiel was facedown on the ground. None of the men were still standing. Jezebel stood on the back of the truck, with her arms held out parallel to the ground, like a sorceress commanding her minions.

  Gabriel swung his flaming blade in a low arc, splitting a dozen of the dark creatures in half. As they fell, more flooded into the space.

  And more were coming at us.

  Naomi and I backed away as Dumah charged forward. He hit the creatures like a boulder against ants. They flew back, but came again. Their black, spindly arms grabbed at his legs. One of them leapt onto his back. It looked like a short, burnt tree come to life, and it stabbed its arms down into Dumah’s flesh.

  He did not slow. Neither did the fiends.

  Dumah reached Laoth, and the two of them pressed together into the swarm. They carved a path to the truck. Jezebel leapt away, into the river. Dumah dove after her, and Laoth turned back to us.

  Naomi and I had nowhere to run. The creatures swept toward us. Their eyes were pale and red and feverish. They had no mouths, no noses. They looked frail, as if their limbs were twigs that would snap.

  “What’s happening?” Naomi asked, terrified.

  She couldn’t see them. “Evil, dark things. They’re fighting the angels … and charging at us.” Running wouldn’t work. They were too fast. “Here.” I held out the baby to Naomi. He was eerily silent, eyes wide open. “Stay down and pray. I’ll fight.”

  She nodded and curled into a ball on the ground. None of the creatures were going to reach her and the child without going through me first.

  God, give me strength. Protect us.

  One of the creatures dashed forward. It came up only to my waist, but its body struck like a whip around my legs. I fell, and immediately they were on me. Thrashing and stabbing, like barbed wire yanked over my skin.

  I tried to jerk my arms away, but the creatures pinned me down. I watched in terror as they swarmed over Naomi’s back.

  This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. God, save her! Please—

  Laoth landed beside me. The darkness cringed back. She whirled in a blur of light, blazing through the fiends like a flame through kindling. Moments later they were gone. She was helping me to my feet.

  Just beyond us, at the rear of the truck, Gabriel was kneeling over Cassiel’s motionless body.

  A CRY SLIPPED from Laoth’s mouth, and she rushed to Cassiel’s side. She held her hand to his face. Naomi and I approached the three of them. Each step made my back burn in pain.

  “Can you save him?” Naomi asked.

  Laoth looked up at us, with tears in her eyes. “He’s asleep now.”

  “Asleep?”

  “Not for long,” Gabriel said, sliding his arms under Cassiel’s lifeless body. He lifted him easily and faced the river. “I will take him away.”

  “I saw Dumah taking bullets, but he survived.” I swallowed. “So what happened to Cassiel?”

  “Jezebel …” Laoth kept her eyes on Gabriel, carrying the angel away. “She got Cassiel before we could stop her. The others were like twisted nephilim. The worst kind.”

  “What did they look like?” Naomi sounded confused. “I thought the nephilim were giants.”

  “Some were,” Laoth said, “when angels were the fathers. These are spawn of hell. Forced breeds.” She paused. “I will say no more of them.”

  Naomi looked to me. “I saw only dark blurs around us, almost like vapor. What did you see?”

  “There were so many of them. Hundreds, but each one so small, like an army of little goblins, except their faces had no mouths or noses, only eyes. Evil eyes. Their bodies were spindly and sharp as thorns.”

  “Lucifer has many creatures in his domain,” Laoth said, turning to us. The hardness of her eyes told us the discussion was over. “Speaking of it only worsens the devil’s tools. Fear. Horror. We should pray now for healing, for light.”

  She turned to face Dumah, who was walking toward us with a woman cradled in his arms. The woman’s body looked like a raven’s feather against his bright skin. Four other women and a little girl were trailing behind. I could see only their eyes through the black cloth covering them from head to foot, but that was enough to see shock and despair.

  Gabriel showed up again at Laoth’s side. “It’s getting dark, and the group needs rest before we journey to Jerusalem. The trip is short, but not without obstacles. Tend to everyone now. We’ll camp here, by the river. I’ll make sure the area’s safe and prepare some food.” Laoth nodded, and Gabriel glided off, his head turning from one end of the horizon to the other, then up to the cloudless sky.

  “Elijah,” Laoth said, putting her hands to my back. “You’re hurt.”

  I nodded.

  She tilted her head up. “Jehovah Rapha …” She continued in words I didn’t understand. Her lips moved delicately, but intensely. Her hands moved over my back, and I could feel the light from her washing over me. Something poured into me like a rush of cold water.

  My back clenched, then released. I stretched my arms out. No pain. I turned to Laoth in awe. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing,” she said. “But the Lord answered my prayer.”

  Dumah and the group of women were watching us. “Elijah?” asked a woman’s faint, familiar voice. She was in Dumah’s thick arms. “Is that you?”

  Our eyes met. Dark, almond eyes.

  “Aisha!” I rushed to her. “You survived!”

  Her face was pale, her body motionless. “Barely,” she said. “I got hurt badly in the crash. I haven’t felt my legs since, but I managed to paddle my way to the shore.”

  “That’s amazing,” Naomi said. “How many lives do you have left?”

  “This might be my last one.” Aisha nodded to the women behind Dumah. “They found me by the water.”

  “Wh-why?” one of the women asked, her voice breaking, her accent thick. “Aisha, who is thi
s people?”

  “They are friends,” Aisha answered. “They will protect us. We are safe now.”

  The woman placed her face in her hands, sobbing. The other women and the little girl gathered around her, crying with her.

  Aisha reached out and touched my arm. “Shanti is the only one who speaks a little English. The leader of the men who died was her husband. The others are all family. Brothers, cousins. These women are the grandmother, two sisters, and a daughter.”

  “What are they doing out here?” I asked.

  “They were fleeing from Jerusalem. It’s bad there. Very bad. They were close by when our headquarters detected my tracker heading straight for the Dead Sea. Headquarters sent the men to look for me.”

  “What headquarters? You don’t mean in Tehran—” I caught myself. The city was gone. Probably most people Aisha knew were dead.

  She was shaking her head. “The Mahdi’s backup base in Jerusalem. All this happened before that flash wiped out the network. I’d probably be dead if these men and women hadn’t come to me. The men were not saints, but they didn’t deserve whatever just happened. I think some of them sensed that the woman they picked up was trouble, but the leader insisted on bringing her. Who was she?”

  “Jezebel,” I said. “A demon.”

  Aisha’s eyes opened wide, but she nodded as if she believed it. “The demon must have known what was coming and tricked the men into taking them with her. She looked like a nice, quiet woman …” Aisha breathed out heavily. “Why is this happening? What else have you seen?”

  Where to start? Everything from Don’s palace seemed like a distant nightmare now. “I saw a huge flash,” I said. “Just before the Mahdi’s nukes hit, we think there was a solar flare. It knocked out all electricity, the satellite systems, everything.”

  “Makes sense, I guess. My precept has been totally gone since the crash. It had to have been something massive to wipe it out. The Mahdi’s attack might have stopped Dajjal if not for this.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Naomi glared at Aisha. “You’re still thinking like that? The Mahdi’s attack would have killed millions of innocent people.”

  Aisha’s body may have been broken, but her eyes blazed with life. “My brother died trying to save people like you.”

  “I’m sorry for your loss,” Naomi said, hardly sounding sorry. “These are the end times. I told you weapons would be no use.”

  “We each fight evil in our own way.”

  “You can’t fight evil with evil. And what was the cost?”

  Aisha didn’t answer, but she grimaced as she glanced to her legs. Naomi was right—millions of lives lost, cities blown away, bodies shattered, and for what? Don had survived. Awkward silence mounted as the two of them stared at each other, my love and my friend. I wondered if this had been their dispute all along. Was that why Aisha had warned me about Naomi in the beginning?

  Laoth had left and returned. Now she glided between us. “Aisha, I am Laoth.” Her voice was gentle as a forest stream. “Elijah told us we might find you here. He wouldn’t let us leave you.”

  “Thank you.” Aisha smiled at me.

  “We’ll take care of you,” Laoth continued, “and your new friends. Untainted souls must find what peace we can.”

  Aisha nodded. Naomi did, too.

  Laoth pointed to the truck by the riverbank. “Dumah, take these women there. We’ll set camp.” She turned to me. “Elijah, can you gather wood for a fire?”

  I said I would, and we parted soon after that. I found a few low bushes scattered around the river. Not much wood, but it would have to be enough. The demons could come again. Night was falling.

  OUR BATTERED GROUP clustered around a small fire. I sat slumped between Naomi and Aisha, my body exhausted. Dumah was off to the side, peering under the hood of the truck, trying to fix its engine. Gabriel was close to the fire, leaning over a spit of roasting fish. Laoth was holding the little Arabic girl, who stared up at her in wonder.

  A question had been eating at me. “Aisha, did you hear Gabriel speaking when we first reached your group?”

  “I think so. Why?”

  “It sounded like Arabic, and it made the men laugh. But Gabriel doesn’t seem like the joking type.”

  “It wasn’t a joke,” Naomi said. “I’m pretty sure he offered to help the men pull the truck from the river.”

  “Maybe, but why do you think that?”

  “Because I was praying for it.” She looked past me, to Aisha. “Am I right?”

  Aisha nodded. “He told the group’s leader that he could save them. Then he said he could lift the truck for them.”

  “Lift it?” I laughed. “They shouldn’t have doubted him.”

  Aisha’s eyes tracked Gabriel as he served fish to the other women. “That’s what he did, too, with the other angel’s help, the quiet one. While you were gathering wood and Naomi was nursing her baby, the two of them walked straight up to the truck, grabbed it by the back hitch, and dragged it out of the river like it was a plastic toy.”

  “We are safe with them,” Naomi said.

  Aisha shook her head. “It doesn’t make sense. I mean, I believe Elijah, but what are angels doing here, with us? Why aren’t they attacking Dajjal?”

  “They—” Naomi began, but stopped short as Gabriel approached.

  He was carrying a small stack of roasted fish laid over a cloth. He knelt before Aisha and gently handed her a piece of fish. Then he gave one to Naomi, and one to me. “Try it,” he encouraged.

  Naomi, Aisha, and I shared a glance. Did they think this was as strange as I did—being served dinner by the messenger of God? I reminded myself they couldn’t see the light arcing from his back like an elaborate halo.

  “You must be hungry,” Gabriel said. “Please, eat.”

  I looked down at the fish. It smelled delicious. I pinched off a small bite with my fingers. The savory piece melted in my mouth.

  “So?” Gabriel asked, rising to his feet.

  “It’s wonderful,” Naomi said. “Where did you get it?”

  “The Jordan.” Gabriel pointed to the dark ribbon of water behind us. “It will be the last fish you eat here.”

  “Why’s that?” Aisha asked.

  “Revelation speaks of the death of every living thing in the sea.” The angel winced as if the words brought pain. “Those warnings have come to pass. Zephaniah spoke the truth, too:

  ‘I will utterly sweep away everything

  from the face of the earth,’ declares the Lord.

  ‘I will sweep away man and beast;

  I will sweep away the birds of the heavens

  and the fish of the sea,

  and the rubble with the wicked.

  I will cut off mankind

  from the face of the earth,’ declares the Lord.

  “This is what comes next?” Naomi’s face had gone pale.

  “Yes,” Gabriel answered.

  “Will you sit with us?” Aisha asked.

  Gabriel looked over his shoulder. Laoth was still holding the little girl and speaking with the other women.

  “Okay,” Gabriel said, turning back. He sat down with us like any person would, crossing his legs and unfurling a cloth around the last fish. He took a bite. “You’re right, not bad, though I prefer the fish in Galilee.” He pinched off another piece.

  “I heard you dragged the truck out of the river,” I said.

  “Dumah and I did it.” Gabriel looked to Aisha. “Our strength has limits, but we are fighting evil with all the powers we have. Just as good comes in many forms, so does evil. It cannot be fought with only swords and bombs.”

  Aisha nodded, her eyes open in wonder.

  “Can one of you heal Aisha’s legs?” Naomi asked.

  Gabriel shook his head slowly. “We cannot, but God can. Pray that he does and he will in his time.” He glanced at Dumah. “The truck will be working by the morning, so all of you can ride.”

  “Where will we go?” Aisha asked.


  “There’s only one real option.” The angel turned to me. I felt bare under his gaze, like he was looking at me from the inside out.

  “We can’t go east,” Aisha said. “It’s desert for miles, and beyond that will be only contaminated land. My people’s land.”

  “What if we followed the river north?” Naomi asked. “It’s the Jordan, after all. We’ll have water, and the order used to have a small base by the Sea of Galilee.”

  “Elijah?” Gabriel’s eyes had never left me. “Tell them what you’ve seen.”

  “You mean a dream? I’ve had many lately.”

  “You know which one I mean.” Gabriel sounded patient and calm, but I felt like he was channeling my mind toward an answer. Kind of like Azazel, but much gentler. Naomi and Aisha watched me, waiting.

  “It was a couple weeks ago,” I began. “I was an infant, carried into a smoldering city. Towers were all around me. They were like spokes up into the sky with little eggs stacked on their sides. But the eggs were empty. The streets were empty. I went to the Dome of the Rock.” I glanced at the angel, and he nodded. “I passed Gabriel on the way. He was wearing the most dazzling white. But the darkness over the Dome was greater. The dragon was perched there.”

  I looked to Aisha, then to Naomi. They weren’t going to like this, but with Gabriel beside me, I felt like I had no choice but to continue. I closed my eyes, seeing it again.

  “The dragon watched me approach. It held my uncle Jacob in one of its claws, and Aisha in the other.”

  “Me?” Aisha asked.

  I kept my eyes closed. I continued.

  “I was crying. The dragon bowed its neck down, revealing Don Cristo. He grabbed me and dangled me in front of the dragon’s eyes. The dragon stretched out its jaws and swallowed me whole. I slid down its throat and into its belly. Inside was another child. It was Naomi’s son, glowing with dazzling light. Then everything exploded.”

  “You never told me that last part.” Naomi’s voice trembled. “What do you mean it exploded?”

  I opened my eyes. “I don’t know. It just exploded. Everything ended after that.”