Being continued, "No. They
won't. They will propagate and live again.
You cannot quell such an abundant and active
species as yourself so easily. But many will
be removed, and it is past time for the
purging."
I looked away and then suddenly the bowl
floated up against me, right up up against my
eyes, I was seeing a scene in it, and then
suddenly I was there in the image !
* * *
This was the
[1st] plague.
I was standing outside at a picnic grounds.
The sky looked beautiful and everyone was
having a good time. Everything seemed alright
at first but then a dark cloud appeared, the
likes of which I hadn't seen before.
I knew something awful was going to happen, so
I looked around, if anything, for a place to
hide. In the distance I saw a nuclear reactor.
Carefully fenced over so it wouldn't interfere
with the people and their homes and the city
blocks surrounding it.
When suddenly a ribbon of light split out from
the reactor and latched itself almost -
mathematically, that was the only way I could
describe it, to the earth's surface. With the
slow deliberateness of a tornado the shining
light spread out in cone. The people at the
park had already gotten up to run away. But I
knew it would be for naught.
While the ribbon of energy was going slow at
first, I knew in time it would go faster than
sound, likely faster than light. No-one would
escape. I was certain of that. And in less
time than a minute it had already whisped off
in one direction and anything it passed got
burned like a several million-degree heat
because there was no flame, just ash
silhouettes and outlines.
I saw a woman running for her child. Both men
and woman abandoned their cars and ran as fast
as they could away. While I think they
might've been able to get away for a short
while, the ribbon of energy was expanding and
moving faster. Perhaps they chose direction
over speed ?
Like a hungry demon the energy line started
accelerating, and when it passed someone, they
were much like the Bible described, a pillar
of salt, yet in this case, it was ash.
There was no pain, I could see that, but there
was terrible death by the thousands taking
place now as the ribbon seemed to be seeking
out people. And with that in mind, I knew
there could be no defense against it.
With each death, a small light beyond the
spectrum of vision and beyond the spectrum of
anything that could view it. A small light
left left each dead person to collect silently
outside the planet. And at some level I
realized it was the floor of the ceiling of
the floor again. Even in this non-living
state, there was still a death to follow.
The dull ringing of human bones made of copper.
I watched as one man tried to escape. He was
on the outer fire-ladder of a building and
trying to
ascend it as quickly as he could, I guess,
hoping to get above the ribbon tornado.
And then I
was him !
I felt the panic in me, the heat and how it
choked the air around me making it difficult
for me to breathe. I was struggling, feeling
my muscles aching. The person I was thrust
into was much bigger and not as athletic as I
was and it was clear I was not in shape for
this kind of movement.
As I reached my arm up desperately, to grab
the last handle of the scaffolding ladder, the
burning red-white ribbon covered me. And
I burned in a fire brighter and hotter than
our sun.
And it only lasted an instance.
But SOMEHOW, I felt the pain long after it had
gone, like a burn-out image was stuck in the
back of my eyes. I knew I was still human even
though I was not, I was - something else.
And it was only with that REALIZATION that I
no longer existed, is when I was no longer
him. As if I was to learn a lesson in death,
and it wasn't one I wanted to ever experience.
I was then somebody else. I was in an office,
somewhere and someone of great importance was
speaking to me. I - couldn't make out what he
was saying but I knew it was in regard to the
ribbon energy.
He was clearly a Governor or someone of
priority, and it was my job to protect him. I
nodded, confirming what he was saying, finding
myself dressed in a very fine business suit.
But time was running out for all of us.
I could hear the line approaching, like a
sizzle of angry electric bees, and the short
cut-off quips of screams and yells as it
passed over everything baptizing them in it's
unquenchable white-hot fire.
The temperature even in the building was
rising ! Even as protected as we were, and the
person I was supposed to protect, yes, he was
a governor, mopped his brow with a fancy and
expensive handkerchief.
He was rapidly typing on a computer, then he
spoke to me again, but I still couldn't make
out the words. It was like I was thrust behind
this sentry's eyes and had no control over my
actions. Finally the governor folded up a
briefcase, opened a safe, removed several
papers, then deliberately left the safe open
knowing that it wouldn't be there later.
With a yell from the pilot, confirming
everyone was on-board, we took off at once, so
fast I felt like my head was going to split !
And this was no ordinary helicopter. It was
fireproof, capable of withstanding thousands
of degrees and it was massive, with 4 rooms in
it, one with a map of the Earth on a type of
expensive glass transparency to track this red
line, another with a pool table and computers,
another to house survival products including
food rations for a full month.
And another which held several monies used in
the world & property deeds as well as
stock transactions as well exceeding millions of dollars.
The Governor now changed his demeanor from
fright completely and went to the private
bedroom and changed in-flight to an immaculate
business suit. He met several people on-board
went up to them, smiled, shook their hands,
and we all studied over a map tracking the
line, writing down figures, comparing
satellite pictures, and determining where to
go next.
He also said the computer found a safe haven
and after several days flight, we could land
on the outskirts of Alaska. And the helicopter
was equipped to travel for days non-stop if
need-be so that wouldn't be a problem.
The governor nodded. He patted me on my back,
congratulating me on my recent efforts. I
still couldn't make out words. But it was
clear everyone was relaxing and actually
joking about how frightened they were earlier.
After our fears were dispelled, then a few of
us made some rude comments regarding 'The end
of the world' which we all laughed about
heartily. As if in angry reply, a moment later
a proximity warning sounded.
The fire-line had suddenly doubled-in size and
it was then the computer beeped for attention
as it retrieved new information about the
danger since the conditions were changed. It
warned that there was an atmospheric change
occurring on the whole planet.
What it was that was fueling the fire line ?
Oxygen. The very air around them was being
devoured by this red-line and the air we
breathed was it's food. Everyone grabbed
oxygen masks and suddenly put them on
realizing that the air around the Earth was
being consumed !
And then the red-line was chasing after the
helicopter ! Those onboard, including myself,
yelled in loud and baffled arguments as to
it's unpredictable behavior. One fellow next
to me got angry and picked up the computer
throwing it on the ground causing the circuit
boards to spill out the back. I looked on
fearfully. That computer was keeping us alive
and now ... ?
As for the pilot of the helicopter, he grimly
kicked kicked the air vehicle into the highest
gear and tried to outrace and outmaneuver the
red line. But for every turn he made the
red-line followed, determined that it would
devour the helicopter. Finally the pilot
shrieked in rage and plunged the helicopter
straight down.
The line passed over the helicopter, and
unlike the surface where there was no fire,
there was incredible and indescribable fire
and pain as both people and pieces of people
were cooked alive under the deadliest of
radioactive heats, surpassing the 'fireproof'
measures of the helicopter. I saw all of it.
There was so much screaming, and some people's
body parts just popped, like wet blistering
boils, and blood spattered and soaked on the
windows. Then a moment later the very windows
burned like glowing liquid, and the
helicopter, all of it's instruments overheated
or charcoaled beyond repair, descended rapidly
downward.
There was an awful crash near the precipice of
a cliff, but not over the edge fortunately.
The helicopter, clearly designed for survival,
was cushioned by large air bag for such
emergencies if it appeared it was going to
crash. As for now, the red line had passed,
although the helicopter still smoked from all
it's burned sides.
After a moment, I could hear someone kicking
the side of the emergency escape door. In a
way I didn't want to see who it was because
from the heat I both felt and saw, there would
be ... very little humanity of them left.
Finally the door was kicked open.
With a determined look, you could see it was
the governor and he was in terrible shape. He
was missing half of one leg and his left arm
was burned, melted, and fused itself to his
side, completely useless. Clearly he was the
only survivor of the holocaust.
And then I
was him.
I bit my lip from the excruciating pain I was
in. It felt like every part of my body was
still on fire, my nerves alive with searing
agony. And I hobbled out of the helicopter or
what was left of it, badly scraping my leg and
cutting it on the metal as I staggered out. I
gripped my good leg for balance as I came out
of the emergency exit. And I was clutching the
least important thing of all.
Money.
* * *
This was the
[2nd] plague.
The scene faded and then the vision changed it
was somewhere in Alaska or Antarctica, I
wasn't sure which. By a freak act of nature,
one very HUGE mountain of ice suddenly rose
up, expanded from heat, from the surface and
because of the years of proceeding global
warming, instead of being solid, it was a
combination of liquid and ice, and it caused a
massive icy tidal wave that grew with strength
for every mile it passed.
Fortunately the tidal wave only washed over
unpopulated wastelands of the arctic.
But then, due only to what science could only
explain in complex, the wave of water grew
higher and higher until it finally touched the
surface of the sky. And it was like a
catalytic reaction.
It was as if the very ice under the Antarctic
was a pure untainted form, never meant to be
disturbed by man, and by touching the deep
centuries-rich pollution of the sky, it
morphed into a weird dry-ice type of hurricane
that rapidly expanded the more pollution in
the sky it found. Our new death was now formed
because of our misuse of our planet.
In mere minutes, it had already reached the
nearest settlements on the polar caps and it
was growing in size by the second.
There was no real panic, or statement to issue
of this impending doom. It whispered
silently across the streets where it froze in
absolute sub-zero temperatures everything it
passed. It was so, terribly cold, as if cold
could be something tangible and definable. You
could touch the sickness, the death - of it
and it froze over all thought, all
consciousness, and all life.
And then I
was her.
I could feel my heartbeat thumping in panic. I
had just finished talking to a friend of mine
and was rushing across a playground to find my
little boy because I knew something was wrong.
The air was too cold and it was getting colder
! And then I saw him on a swing and I cried
out to him, "We need to leave ! Something's
wrong !"
But then the cold vapor hit me. And my very
words were frozen in time and it was a kind of
indulgent cool sleepiness that came over me
and I felt my own heart immediately slow and
then freeze over solid and I was trapped in
the stillness of infinity, reaching out to
save my child, a statue of motherhood.
It was only when I realized I was not there,
did I return. Again, death was not recognized
or even known until I had accepted it myself.
It was the mind escaping the inescapable. And
it always would.
The curious vapor worked itself into every
building. One special building had sounded an
alarm, and rubber-tight flanged flayed out and
gripped the edges to make it airtight.
An artificial atmosphere was emitted from gas
jets long ready in preparation.
The loudspeakers crackled with several people
talking at once. It sounded to be some type of
evacuation plan for important people and
scientists, for those who could afford it. And
it seemed like for a time, the residents of
this building just might have survived the
deadly vapor of cold.
But no.
There was one very small, infinitely small
crack in a window, and it was as if the vapor
had a life of it's own and it entered,
hungrily, almost as if it was seeking out the
warmth of our blood, the warmth of our hearts,
to come and freeze and still them in it's
absolute zero of cold temperatures.
The secret city, all people, pets, and life,
were suddenly quiet in the hushed whisper of
absolution. A short time later the protective
rubber on the outer doors cracked like glass
and the remainder of the vapor crept in to
confirm and calculate it's kill.
* * *
This was the
[3rd] plague.
Unknown to scientists, every time the
Earth's atmosphere was pierced by rockets
seeking to leave it's atmosphere, they had
caused a slight deviation in the magnetic flux
of the Earth.
And it was an incremental and exponential
effect until a large natural sunspot
phenomenon not only leapt across it's blazing
surface but was further coaxed by the unstable
perpetuity of gravity and eagerly rushed down
to slam into the Earth, the worst kind of
meteorite, because instead of being a block of
frozen ice it was a single tongue of fire
millions of degrees in temperature !
It happened with such ferocity and
unexpectedness that only alarms and warnings
went off well after it had already hit.
People grabbed what they could, and moved away
from it's projected repercussion area. For
although it had already hit, aftershocks were
going to occur and they would have far
reaching consequences than the actual
projectile itself. I saw radios and
televisions warning the people, telling them
to get as far away from the impact as they
could.
Important people hurried by with their
briefcases of money and status, businessmen
with their suits grabbing both wife and child
to escape. At a remote airport, a personal jet
was being loaded up with yet another important person who, like his
predecessor, prepared for the coming of the
holocaust.
The jet, too, had ample rooms, a room to track
the repercussions, and complex computer and
radio equipment to alert anyone and everyone
about what was needed or needed to be done.
And perhaps it seemed they would escape
unharmed as surely anything in the air surely
would not be effected by ground tremors.
But they hadn't anticipated that the solar
burst did not just hit the Earth but BURNED
into it and it was heading towards the field
of least resistance, where gravity itself was
harnessed. The core of our planet. It extended
beyond sight, unseen and unchecked at an
incredible rate, many miles farther than
anyone had ever dug underground by hand or
with machine.
And then I
was her.
I had been living underground for years now
since I lost my home and family due to
consistent bickering and arguments. And at
this point, I trusted no-one. I had on
tattered clothes and carried a make-shift
dirty backpack that was countless times soaked
in sewer-water.
I avoided the surface and the cruel people
above it. I was in my own dark world, I was to
myself, and human immorality and avarice would
not reach me here in my underground dwellings.
I was safe.
Unfortunately, even being on the edge of the
shock-waves from the solar flare, a fault tore
open at the little home I had lovingly built
out of pretty cardboard and paper and I I fell
straight into the cracks where cold hard
razor-sharp steel awaited me from some sewer
piping below, now torn asunder from the shock
waves.
It was awful. It was like I could hear
the punctures occurring throughout my body and
I was gasping, trying to catch my breath, and
then somehow, I was not being able to. And I
saw my eyes facing down to see a river of
excrement and sludge slowly work it's way
unsuccessfully through the ruptured lines to fall into the abyss.
Our precious 'gift' to Mother Earth.
It was only when I realized I didn't have the
lungs to breathe, did I leave this horrible
scene.
And there was
the secret.
There was a shadow of a strange all-steel
building somewhere in the South Pole. And it,
of ALL the disasters that had so far occurred,
remained standing in it's wake.
It was an order of unholy, fabricated from the
best of man and the worst of him. It was
designed for the end of the world. It's
citizens literally thumbed their nose up at
the creator, for it was a secret society that
believed they would live forever and were
prepared for anything - or so they thought.
The world shook for
the 1st plague.
It
trembled for the 2nd plague.
It
shrieked in rage for the 3rd plague.
It
frightfully awaited the 4th.
END
OF CHAPTER 4
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