The Seventh Vial: A Novel of the Great Tribulation (The Days of Elijah Book 4)

by Mark Goodwin

  Now, despite everything he’d done to try to protect her, she was dead. His worst nightmare had come true, and he’d had to watch her die.

  A squad of supersoldiers ran behind the Typhoon where Everett lay in the growing pool of blood. He looked at his rifle briefly but knew retrieving it would require him to move his arm out from beneath Courtney’s head, and he simply wasn’t willing to let her beautiful hair lay in the puddle of blood. Besides, he’d lost the will to fight—and the will to live. Nothing would please him more than for one of the Nephilim to send him to be with her. He missed her already.

  But the supersoldiers paid him no mind. They seemed more concerned for their own lives. Someone was attacking them, and it was a much larger force than the troops Everett had been commanding from Kaymakli.

  Everett heard the hooves of horses beating the ground and rushing in his direction. He turned to the six Nephilim who were using the overturned Typhoon for cover. They fired their weapons at the charging force, emptying their magazines. A rider on a white horse stormed their position, swinging a sword back and forth, until he’d severed the heads of all six Nephilim. The rider wore a white armor, which was barely recognizable as ever having been white. His armor was covered in the blood of the slaughtered Nephilim. The horse neighed with fury, raising up on its hind legs.

  The rider brought the horse back down and turned toward Everett. His eyes blazed like fire. His hand with which he gripped the reins had a long scar as if it had been pierced. Instantly, Everett recognized him as being the same man he’d seen on the mountain back in Virginia speaking with Moses and Elijah. Everett’s strength left him as it had before, leaving him just enough energy to mouth a single word. “Messiah.”

  This time, however, Everett did not lose consciousness. His eyes streamed with tears as he locked his gaze with the rider’s.

  The rider nodded at Everett and smiled compassionately before kicking the horse with his heels and charging off to finish the battle.

  Everett fought to breathe as if he’d fallen flat on his back, but soon, his strength returned. His arm wasn’t throbbing. And his legs didn’t hurt. He ran his tongue along the cut in his mouth that had been bleeding, but he couldn’t locate it. What was more, the pool of blood he’d been lying in was gone. Everett gently lowered Courtney’s head and came up to a sitting position. He looked all around him, but there was no blood anywhere. “Did I imagine that? No, I saw him shoot her.”

  Everett looked out toward the dead Nephilim to make sure he’d not just awoken from a dream. Sure enough, they were all there. The six killed by the rider, the one he’d killed and the other two with the white metallic arrows in their heads and necks. Where they lay, there was blood—blood in abundance.

  He looked back to Courtney who’d previously lost the color in her face. Her cheeks were pink, not white. Her lips were rosy, not the pale hue they’d been only moments ago. Everett inhaled deeply, but he dared not hope. “Could it be?”

  Her eyelashes fluttered, and he ran his hand along her soft, warm face.

  “Courtney? Can you hear me?”

  Her lashes batted again. This time, her eyes opened. She focused on him.

  He exhaled and began to sob as he embraced her, picking her up into his arms.

  “What happened?” she asked.

  “Jesus, that’s what happened. He was here.” He held her close. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ali stirring around.

  The young man stood up on his feet and brushed himself off. He looked at Everett. “Are we winning?”

  “Yeah.” Everett heard more horses charging in their direction.

  One of the riders called out, “Check behind that truck. I see GR uniforms sticking out from behind it.”

  A woman’s voice added, “And watch out! It could be an ambush.”

  The voices sounded vaguely familiar to Everett, but he couldn’t be sure. The events of the past five minutes had been utterly surreal.

  The horses galloped to the edge of the Typhoon.

  Everett called out to the riders. “Hold your fire! We’ve got three friendlies back here. All the hostiles are dead.”

  “Everett?” a voice called out.

  Everett turned, still holding Courtney in his arms to see one of the troops from the army of heaven walking around the corner. His suit of armor was brilliant-white. Form-fitting, but thick. It was made of a material that Everett had never seen before. The man wore boots and gloves of the same material. He held a bow and wore a quiver filled with the white metallic arrows like the ones which had killed the two Nephilim. Then he looked at the man’s face. “Kevin?”

  The woman walked around the side of the truck after the man.

  Courtney squealed and jumped to her feet. “Sarah!”

  Two more men dismounted their horses and came around to the side of the flipped MRAP where the reunion was taking place.

  “Ali!” one of the men called out.

  “Tobias!” Ali called out with joy. “And Gideon! Dinah, she is here, in the underground city. You must come in. She will be so happy to see you!”

  “She’s here—in Kaymakli?” Gideon sheathed his white metallic sword and looked at Tobias.

  Tobias put his hand on Gideon’s shoulder. “Go see her.”

  “You don’t think Michael will mind?”

  Tobias shook his head. “The General won’t care. The battle is over—the war is over. We’re just mopping up at this point. Go ahead. I’ll watch your horse.”

  Gideon waved at Everett and the others, then rushed into the entrance of the underground city.

  Everett took Courtney in another embrace. “All those verses about God’s protection—every time I watched someone else I cared about die, they seemed to be less and less true. They just didn’t make sense. Then when you died, my faith was pushed to the edge. But now I understand.”

  He turned to Ali. “I’m sure there is someone who would like to know you’re still alive.”

  Ali smiled, his white teeth glowing in the sun. He shook his finger at Everett. “Not still alive, Everett. Alive again!”

  “I stand corrected. While you’re down there, will you let Rabbi Hertzog know the war is over and that everyone can come out?”

  “Sure.” Ali hurried down the stairs behind Gideon.

  Everett held his wife a few minutes longer, wondering what the New Millennium would be like. He looked down at the ground to see a small patch of wildflowers blossoming beside his left foot.

  Courtney looked down to see what he was staring at. “I don’t remember seeing flowers anywhere around here before.”

  “Me either.” Everett recalled a verse from Isaiah and recited it to her. “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.”

  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the num
ber of whom is as the sand of the sea.

  Revelation 20:1-8

  Don’t Panic!

  Inevitably, books like this will wake folks up to the need to be prepared. Or, they cause those of us who are already prepared to take inventory of our preparations. New preppers can find the task of getting prepared for an economic collapse, EMP, or societal breakdown to be a source of great anxiety. It shouldn’t be. By following an organized plan and setting a goal of getting a little more prepared each day, you can do it.

  I always try to include a few prepper tips in my novels, but they’re fiction and not a comprehensive plan. Now that you’re motivated to start prepping, the last thing I want to do is leave you frustrated, not knowing what to do next. So, I’d like to offer you a free PDF copy of The Seven Step Survival Plan.

  For the new prepper, The Seven Step Survival Plan provides a blueprint that prioritizes the different aspects of preparedness and breaks them down into achievable goals. For seasoned preppers who often get overweight in one particular area of preparedness, The Seven Step Survival Plan provides basic guidelines to help keep their plan in balance and ensures they’re not missing any critical segments of a well-adjusted survival strategy.

  Click HERE To get your free PDF copy of The Seven Step Survival Plan.

  Thank you for reading

  The Days of Elijah: Book Four

  The Seventh Vial

  If you liked the book, please take a moment to leave a five-star review. It helps more than you can imagine.

  I love hearing from readers. So, whether it’s to say you enjoyed the book or to point out a typo that we missed, drop me a line. prepperrecon@gmail.com

  Stay tuned to PrepperRecon.com for the latest news about my upcoming books, and great interviews on the Prepper Recon Podcast.

  Keep watch for my new series available summer of 2018!

  Ava’s Crucible, Book One: Divided We Fall

  The deck is stacked against twenty-nine-year-old Ava. She’s a fighter, but she's got trust issues, struggles with depression, and despite her natural beauty, doesn’t score well in the self-esteem department. Her personal complications aren’t without merit, but America is on the verge of a second civil war, and Ava must pull it together if she wants to survive.

  Ava has just lost her adoptive mother to cancer. Her adoptive father walked out on his family for the sweet young thing at the office fifteen years ago. Ava’s fiancé broke off the engagement shortly after her mom got sick. Her natural mother died during child birth, and she has no idea who her biological father is. With such a long history of abandonment, it’s understandable why she’s hesitant to put her faith in humans, but now it’s affecting her relationship with God.

  Meanwhile, the tentacles of the deep state have infiltrated every facet of American culture. The public education system, entertainment industry, and mainstream media have all been hijacked by a shadow government intent on fomenting a communist revolution in the United States. The antagonistic message of this agenda has poisoned the minds of America’s youth who are now convinced that capitalism and conservativism are responsible for all the ills of the country. Violent protest, widespread destruction, and politicians who insist on letting the disassociated vent their rage will bring America to her knees, threatening to decapitate the laws, principles, and values on which she was founded.

  Ava refuses to give into fear, but she simply cannot survive on her own. She must deal with her crisis of faith and trust other people, or she’ll never make it through the deadliest period in the history of America.

  If you’ve enjoyed The Days of Elijah, you’ll love the prequel series,

  The Days of Noah

  In The Days of Noah, you’ll see the challenges and events that Everett and Courtney endured prior to this series. You’ll read what it was like for the Christians in their final days before the rapture, and how the once-great United States of America lost its sovereignty. You’ll have a better understanding of how the old political and monetary system were cleared away, like pieces on a chess board, to make way for the one-world kingdom of the antichrist.

  And check out my EMP survival series Seven Cows Ugly and Gaunt

  starting with book one,

  Behold, Darkness and Sorrow

  Danny and Alisa's lives are turned upside down when Danny begins having prophetic dreams about the judgment coming upon America. Through one of Danny’s dreams, they learn about the imminent threat of an EMP attack which will wipe out America’s electric grid, sending the country into a technological dark age.

  Living in a nation where life-sustaining systems of support are completely dependent on electricity and computers, the odds for survival are dismal. Municipal water services, retail food distribution, police, fire, EMS and emergency services will come to a screeching halt.

  If they want to live through the most catastrophic period in American history, Danny and Alisa will have to race against time to get prepared, before the lights go out.

  You’ll also have fun reading my first series,

  The Economic Collapse Chronicles

  Dealing with the challenges of being downsized during a period of surging inflation, Matt and Karen Bair face the economic realities of Main Street. Government borrowing and monetary creation have reached their limits and America is on the cusp of financial annihilation. When funds are no longer available for government programs, widespread civil unrest erupts across the country. Matt and Karen are forced to move to a more remote location, and their level of preparedness is revealed as being much less adequate than they believed prior to the crisis. Civil instability erupts into civil war, and Americans are forced to choose a side. Don’t miss this action-packed, post-apocalyptic tale about survival after the total collapse of America.

  CLICK HERE to be notified when new books by Mark Goodwin are released!