The Warriors' Ends- Soldiers of the Apocalypse

by Keith T Jenkins

  “It seems like the kind of thing I would think of, er, I mean or course, the kind of thing that you would think of. But, I don’t remember being sick!”

  “It came on suddenly, after the backup plan was instituted. The idea was that, we would keep the Prime Minister backed up, and a clone on the ready, just in case of anything. But then, two weeks ago . . .” His voice trails off in sadness over the illness of his boss, his minister, even his friend.

  “Don’t worry, Illya! I am sure that the doctors will make certain that I don’t die on you.” Smotritel is comforting, even though it is he that is in danger. “You, my new found friend, must be me in my absence. You are the only person in the world who can run this country as I would, as I do, and as I will when I return. On that day, we will decide everything for your future, you and me, together.”

  This thought gave the replacement equal measures of comfort and worry. He knows what kind of man he is, and what kind of man his predecessor is, and what this all could mean. He thinks long and hard about what may befall him, should Smotritel – the original – awaken and resume his life. He is worried that a continuance of one life may mean the termination of another. He is right to worry. There are a few more minutes reviewing the calendar, preparing for the events that are to come, and making sure that the Replacement is fully ready and able to perform all needed duties.

  Early the following week, Illya is called into the office of Sasha Smotritel, and he is told, “I believe he has plans to get rid of me, if he survives.”

  “I don’t doubt that sir,” says Illya. “He is that kind of man.”

  “I would rather not be dead, and I am sure that you would rather have a happier life; is that right, Illya?”

  “Who wouldn’t, Keeper of Benevolence?”

  “Then you must help me arrange for my security, as well as your social promotion,” Sasha the Second plots for his predecessor’s demise. Illya goes along, hearing out his reasoning why he should make such arrangements for the intercessor, and agrees that he is willing to take whatever wonderful rewards the new Sasha should bestow.

  Two days pass, full of state business, a banquet or two, and even a date for the Prime Minister with his favorite and exclusive courtesan from the Sub Continent. It is while he is on his way out of the office, on his way to this engagement that he gets word from Illya.

  He stops Sasha the Second in the hallway outside his office, taking him by the elbow, with a whisper, “Come with me, please, sir.” Illya extends his hand, directing Aleksandr back into his own office, and when the door closes, they are alone. “Prime Minister Smotritel is dead, sir. There were complications, and . . .” He obviously cannot speak. He even takes the Replacement by his hand, steps in close, and embraces him, almost sobbing. “I hope you understand my sorrow, sir, but you are now all any of us have left of the Great Keeper.”

  Now, there is only one Keeper, and he is learning of his importance to some people. Illya must not be the only one who feels this way, though, for now, he is the only one who knows of the loss.

  “Sadly, no one else must ever know what has been done, what has happened, or that he is dead. The medical records must all be expunged, as must be the medical staff involved.”

  “I understand, sir. It has already been done.”

  “There must be no traces, anywhere, of any of this, or we will all be hanged and burned. Do you understand?” He holds Illya’s hand like a father to a sorrowing son.

  “Yes, sir. No one will ever know. I swear it to you.”

  Sasha, that is the new Sasha, strides out of his office, confident that his life is assured, that his future is sure. He keeps his date with Pashmina, a woman who is not allowed to be his in any socially acceptable way, and she will later say that it was the most enthusiastic night they had ever shared. “He was a lion,” she said the day after his meeting with the Two, and his death in front of millions. They could not be married because she was Hindi, not Russian, and in fact, they could not even be official lovers; but most of his friends and family knew, even his wife.

  The next day, the Two were murdered; Sasha was caught on camera, for all the world to see, celebrating his victory for but a moment, hands in the air, shouting like a victorious American boxer. But then, Aleksandr Smotritel was dead and gone, head detonated in Red Square, under the eyes of the world, but three days after that horrendous bit of news, during a highly publicized event at the UN, he walks out on the stage to thunderous applause. The leaders of the world and their ambassadors are all present; standing, kneeling, crying, and begging to shake his hands.

  He had rid the world of the terror that was the Two. He had paid the ultimate price for that success, and he had managed to live to tell about it. There were naysayers and disbelievers among them, they would demand blood tests for DNA examination, and they will get all they require.

  Being extra cautious, they would not accept the record of Aleksandr’s DNA, but rather, demanded that his children be brought for DNA comparison with the man who stood before them that day. It is discovered that he is an absolute paternal match for every one of them. His wife had been faithful, and that has saved her life. She was tested and proven to be their mother, but who was the dead guy?

  The body had been held in State for three days before being cremated, however, there were plenty of bits at the crime scene to pick up and examine. The best CSI types in Russia had been on scene, taking possession of every bit of evidence they could. There were the clothes he had worn, the clothes of the crowd where he has splattered, chunks of head left on the stage beneath the body, and much more.

  They examine all of it, with over one hundred individual DNA tests performed on everything they found, by several independent labs, and except for some of the cross-mingled blood spatter, it all had the exact same DNA as the man on the UN dais. He was, and remains Aleksandr Smotritel.

  The naysayers and doubters are put in their places. Some of their nations revolt against them, when they get home, sometimes to their dismissal, sometimes to their deaths, because they had besmirched the Hero of the World who had ended the Two. He had sent them from this world, died his own terrible death, and returned to finish the work.

  After all the falderal of DNA testing, public doubt and then faith, Aleksandr Smotritel took the stage again, from a platform in Red Square – the very same platform as before – and he told the press, and hundreds of millions of viewers, “I am Aleksandr Smotritel, Keeper of Russia, and now, Keeper to the World. I am brought back to you by the god of this world to save you from all that is about to befall.” He laid it on extra thick, knowing that those who would rebel would meet resistance in every corner of the world, because he had destroyed their enemy, been raised from the dead, and was ready to say so, claiming his rightful place in the world, by faith. And he would require faith from others in his pursuits.

  The nations of the world, almost completely, lined up behind him as their global president, but this only happened after he was adopted by the Great Ayatollah Qadir Muhammad Abdul Rashid! Adopted may be a strong word to use in this case, but it is the word that will be used around the world. What actually happens is that the Ayatollah comes to him, first by emissary, then in person, and lets him know, in no uncertain terms, that “My people will destroy everything you have built if you do not keep our laws and declare them to be the Global Policy.” He tells Sasha this, personally holding Pashmina by the hair, with a knife to her throat.

  Bluffing, Sasha says, “You think she is important to me?” But Ayatollah Rashid just slices her throat, from ear to ear, and the last thing she sees and hears is her beloved Sasha, crying out, “No! My love!” She smiles as she dies, lying on the floor. Some of the Ayatollah’s acolytes usher in Sasha’s wife and children. Standing in a semicircle around the body of Pashmina, they sense what may be their fates. Sasha relents. He will do as he is required, and he will do it with an iron resolve, so as to show the world that it is his decision alone, and he alone will enforce the new policies
. Sharia is to be the law of all lands, binding all cultures together.

  Now, there is an evangelism of the world, far greater than any before, reaching into the farthest reaches of the tribal nations, into the darkest corners of the world, by the finances and forces of the united armies of the planet . . . all but one.

  Israel is not on board. The Knesset will not allow state sponsored proselytizing of their people, especially not for Islam. The whole idea is an offense to them and in a few years, they will be considered an offense to the world. But what else is new? The press has been solidly anti-Israel since the 1980’s, even more so since the demise of FOX and the WSJ. Even the Christian Science Monitor started towing the line.

  The Evangelical Campaign was well into its third year and most of the world had fallen to the Islamists. It seemed, at least on paper, were Smotritel lived, that everything was going according to plan. It was even going according to his plans, if he just ignored the whole Islamic involvement in it all. But he just figured that all goals have some compromise, all regimes have unsavory factions. Yes, overall, he was pleased.

  Still, with every evangelical advancement, there is also an underground advancement. This, the Islamists would call, “Something sinister in the background.” It is of no small concern to them. “Every time we go into a new territory, somehow, along with us goes this Christian infection. It is as though we are the great serpent – the python of truth, reaching into the jungle, only to be followed by all these invisible asps and adders. To put it in Russian terms, we are like a great bear, surrounded by the buzzing of bees.” Sasha listens as the Ayatollah Rashid complains to him.

  “What do you expect me to do about it?”

  “I don’t know,” is the honestly exasperated word of his boss. “We cannot appear weak, swatting at bees, even though we are killing a few hundred of them a week, everywhere. Still, they keep reappearing, more, stronger, faster, younger – sometimes older.” He shakes his head a moment, then, “And Israel is nothing but a pain, and outstanding canker sore, welling up on our skin, for all the world to see, never getting better. We cannot win against them, fighting a rocket war. Shooting things across the border has only expanded their borders. They have encompassed most of Lebanon and parts of Syria, reaching into Jordan and all the way to the Wadi of Egypt. We have to go on foot.”

  “Are you out of your damned mind?” Sasha shouts.

  “You dare!” one of the men in the room retorts, raising a scimitar. The Ayatollah’s hand raises to stay the man of intense anger.

  “China is the answer!” the Ayatollah begins. “They have nearly three hundred fifty million troops, as well as tanks, armored trucks with guns, hundreds of thousands of Humvees, and forty million horses. They will go at your command.”

  In China, thanks to the enforcement of Islam on everyone, the Uyghurs have taken a tremendous turn for the better. They have converted nearly a quarter of China to their brand of Islam. For starters, if a man wants to marry, in China, like many other countries now, he must be Muslim. He cannot just say he is Muslim, he must present a letter from an Imam that validates him as a member of a mosque. But, as a Muslim, he can now marry up to five wives, and he doesn’t have to get the consent of the previous wives. In some countries, it is still just three. In the eastern coasts of Africa, that number has risen to seven. There are a few nations where it is still only one.

  Many of the Imams, understanding the goal of Hegemony, and understanding the need for a servant class, will sign a paper that declares that, although the man in question may not be Muslim, he is a servant of the Prophet; therefore he should be allowed to marry, but only one. In about half the countries of the world, this is an acceptable way to marry.

  Enter the traffickers.

  One of the byproducts of this arrangement is that women from all over the world are being brought to these men who will pay for an “arrangement.” Some of the men will simply look around their own towns or neighborhoods, while others will reach out into dating services and websites. Still others, not wishing to be bothered with proprieties, will seek out a “Spouse Finder” who will simply take a description of the woman that a man may want – height, weight, hair, ethnicity, etc. – and go find one. It needn’t bother the man that she was not interested, that she was even taken by force, he had a right to a woman of his choosing, and he would order one. When she arrived, if she displeased him in some way; too tall, too skinny or plump, she could just be put into the pool, and someone else would likely choose her later.

  If she was within reasonable parameters of what was ordered, the man would forfeit fifty percent of his deposit if he declined her. However, if he had ordered “tall, blonde, buxom,” and she turned out to be 5’5” with light brown hair, and a slim build, with B cups . . . no match. There is a certain amount of subjectivity, but in practice, there are parameters of understanding, and more precise specifics can be used if needed. If she is close, but a dispute remains, then the broker will only keep a quarter of the deposit.

  An element of marketing genius is that each broker keeps a harem of women, mostly those who have been turned down by someone already, who could closely match almost any request. Some of the women have been kidnapped for a deposit, returned by their prospective husband, and half the deposit kept, two, six, even ten times. And they keep sending them. On a ten thousand Unit bride, and deposit would be four grand. As you can see, a few trips to town and a woman could bring in a lot of money, even as a failure.

  Sometimes several brokers will band together and keep a larger harem, sharing those prospected to wed, collecting vast resources in deposits, returns, and even in final wedding arrangements. This was a common practice in the more densely populated parts of the world. A man may make an arrangement with one broker, be sent a woman, lose a piece of the deposit sending her back, only to make an arrangement with another broker, and meet the same woman. Hmm?

  The Uyghurs enjoy their status and power, and in a meeting it is agreed that they would be glad to lead a devastating assault on Israel, but that it would take them more than a few months to train for a ground war, and to stage nearby.

  Construction begins on a collection of bridges to cross the Euphrates River, the single largest obstacle between China and Israel. It requires about one hundred bridges, three hundred feet wide. This will allow the entire army to cross the river – well, two hundred million of them – to cross in a week’s time, in transports, on horseback and on foot.

  Overall, the Chinese have the greatest hand-to-hand force in the combat history of mankind. Their numbers aside, there are more martial arts masters in their army than most armies have soldiers. China was the university of warfare for the Viet Kong so long ago, and they managed to keep America at bay for over a dozen years, finally fatiguing the people at home into quitting. Their manual combat skills are second to none, as a fighting force, and their force is second to none in sheer terms of numbers. In fact, their military outnumbers many nations.

  Because there is, and has been for many years, two separate but intertwined Chinas, they were able to weather the desolations between the disappearances better than most. Also, the disappearances were not such big news in China, because the news is property of the state, and has been for a long time. Also, because it is deemed reasonable to not give numbers, or to cite names or locations in any of the news, these facts continue to be unknown by the people. When a town would lose a couple hundred people, and the news would report that a few thousand in China were gone, the assumptions of many were that “most of them must have been our neighbors.”

  The two Chinas mentioned before are the wealthy, and the not, but also much more. The wealthy get to take advantage of the Capitalist functions, such as business ownership, profit sharing, retirement plans, etc. The not-wealthy get to work every day for less than a quarter of what a first-world, middle class worker would make each day. Someone doing a tech job for a big company in California, may make $235,000 a year, but doing the exact same job in China
, with higher standards of performance, would be making $22,000, and they thought they were living like royalty.

  There is another class of people in China who make far less than the tech worker; the farmers and service workers. They usually make between $1500, and $15,000 per year, and in their economy, a family can survive on that. But that also leaves nearly 11,000,000 people rummaging through the trash heaps for food and things to find, fix, and sell. The lowest of the low have no Welfare, and no Social Security, no churches to sustain them, and live on trash. The near richest live in actual palaces, wasting millions, enough to feed thousands, every year. The very richest live on tour much of the time, in private jets, between a few dozen cities of the world at all times. The income disparity in China is greater than it has ever been anywhere, but the news is disinterested in that. After all, there is a whole world of joy to share about the expansion of the World Government.

  One hundred days into year six after the First Great Disappearance, Smotritel and his cadre, as well as the puppet masters that pull their strings, come up with a plan by which they can take possession of a huge portion of the wealth of the world. This is done simply by passing a law that makes any inheritance over 10,000,000 Units become property of the State. The reasoning is that anyone can make a life on a million Units. This amount fixed because the Unit is now the common currency across the globe. Euros, dollars, and all the rest have been converted. After all, what is a national currency if there is no national sovereignty? Everything is run from Red Square, just as Washington DC was the center of government for America, so long ago.

  The next phase of this acquisition is to begin killing off those who have such massive holdings. It begins with the Touring Chinese mentioned before, partly because they are stuck out in the world without adequate security, but many will change this truth of their life. There are also those who tour from many other countries as well. But the Chinese are the most prolific, and the most powerful, until they start to become victims.