Last Light Falling (19 page)

I’m shaking with a fear I cannot contain, until a jubilant fever suddenly overcomes my emotional exhaustion.

“Shhh, keep it down,” Finnegan says.

“I’m so glad to see you.”

“Are you hurt?” he says, examining my blood-soaked face.

I wipe some blood from my cheek. “No, this is someone else’s blood,” I say, trembling with adrenaline.

I stare down at my crimson-stained hands, transfixed for a brief moment before I turn back to Finnegan’s eyes. “I killed them,” I say as if I just revealed some terrible sin.

“Yes, and it won’t be the last.”

“Where the hell have you been all these years?” I ask.

Sudden gunfire in the background immediately breaks up our conversation.

“I’ll tell you when we are safe, come this way,” Finnegan says, as he leads us toward the back of the gas station.

While there’s fueled anxiety and trembling fear coming from the others, all I can think about right now is wiping this sticky, congealed blood from my face. The blood on my hands is turning brown and already starting to smell like iron.

We crawl through the back window one by one until we are safely inside. In the next room over, Father Joseph and Henry are waiting as expected.

“Finnegan!” shouts Father Joseph, “it’s so good to see you, my friend. How are you?”

“Tired, hungry, and desiring some much-needed rest.” Finnegan walks over to Henry, shakes his hand, and puts his hand on his shoulder. “Whatever magic you have pulled, it worked. You taught her well,” he says, referring to my survival.

“Finnegan, she is much better than you know. She is absolutely lethal,” Henry says seriously.

“I’m sorry we haven’t formally met. I hope you can forgive me under the circumstances,” Finnegan says to Niki. She is shivering and
completely discombobulated by what has happened in the last few hours, so she just stands there, shaking her head.

“This is my …” I pause, thinking how Niki has been more than a foster sister in my life. She is the one I leaned on the most when my life seemed to fall apart. “This is my sister Niki,” I proudly say.

Suddenly, gun fire right outside the building forces us to shorten our introductions, so we quickly descend down into the tunnel below.

Upon entering the den, we all sit down as Finnegan shares with us the last two years of his personal hell, up until the recent events that have occurred regarding the last wave of governmental attacks on its people.

“Our administration has been sleeping with the enemy the past six years, battling out international policy, global economics, and worse, a one-world government that feeds off the people it controls. This country as you know is no longer free; it’s but a mirage of lies and false hope, masking what it truly has become—a slave nation. And if you are not contributors to this malevolent regime, then you are expendable. They know this. That’s why they can control what you buy, what you eat, how and where you live. They even control who has the right to bear children,” he says.

“What?” I ask in shock.

“If you haven’t noticed lately, not many people in the poorer regions, or even the less-wealthy districts, are having many children. That’s because they have been polluting the water you drink and the products you buy with a chemical used to prevent pregnancy that effectively makes women sterile. It’s also been proven powerful enough to abort a fetus if one should ever get past the system unscathed.

“China has been doing this for the last twenty years in trying to reduce the population to one they can control economically. Even with the earthquakes killing forty-five million of its people, leaders still plan to reduce the population. Many other nations are following suit in this global plan, and our very own nation has initiated this
New World Order,
as they call it,” Finnegan says with disgust.

This is no longer the nation that was birthed; it is a withering, old tree that has been poisoned by the blood of evil and it has become our own enemy.

Finnegan continues, “I’ve seen with my own eyes the very documents and reports that prove these actions have been carried out. I worked on a mission with a special ops team several years ago detailing the movement of a new terrorist threat, and during that mission we captured six Saudi militants who happened to have these documents in their possession.

“Apparently, our administration had been working with the Saudi government in attempts to occupy territories in their region so they could set up massive military bases, and in return, they will grant the nation full immunity as well as protection from neighboring states. This classified international reorder has now seeped into the hands of the Chinese and Russian governments, and your president, dictator, king, whatever the hell you want to call him, now leads this plan with the help of a new military.

“Those like me, who refused to surrender our loyalty to the new order, were imprisoned. Many of us were killed, but those left to live were of value to them for different reasons. I was kept alive because of my knowledge of enemy territories and hidden underground camps. So for the last two years, I’ve been rotting in a military prison in Iraq because of my skills and my knowledge of their future plans.”

“How did you escape?” Gabe asks.

“With the help of what I can only assume was by God’s own hands, I managed to persuade them to remove me from my cell to a more reasonable location where I was able to determine more accurately which terrorist camps had moved and which ones were still underground. They drove me to a nearby site outside of Habbaniyah where I could better examine the region and give them better knowledge.

“During the night, the two guards got lazy and drank themselves into a stupor while I manage to escape. God must have been protecting me, because I managed to hitch rides and caravans through a 450-mile journey across enemy boarders to Jerusalem. Believe me, with America’s rejection of Israeli political policies, it can be quite difficult finding refuge there. I had no idea what to expect, being an American on what is now perceived by our nation as enemy soil.

“Because I explained to the Israeli leaders what happened in the West and the future of the New World Government, they allowed me to see what the last six years of their nation has gone through. Since the Messianic movement, Jews have been converting and a new culture of Israel has been forming, springing up new leadership devoting to keep God’s land protected.

“Ananiah Shemer, an American-born engineer, who has emerged recently to become the new militant leader, has built an army that has been preparing for a stand against a war of biblical proportions, and I’ve been indoctrinated into this mission, representing counter intelligence for them. Believe me, optimism isn’t their strength; it is their faith that binds them together, but when I told them about the visions and
how you two fit into all of this, something changed them. Everyone devoted to the faith has been on their knees praying for you both night and day, yet they haven’t seen a trace of your future—it’s only by faith they choose to believe.

“In the cities, you two are referred to as
mal’achhamavet,
and are well known to the people now,” says Finnegan.

“What does it mean?” I ask.

“It’s Hebrew for ‘angel of death,’” says Father Joseph.

“The photo that I sent to Father Joseph is very real,” Finnegan says.

“The temple, you have seen this up close?” asks Gabe.

“Yes,” says Finnegan with a frightened look on his face.

“Then it has truly begun,” I respond.

“This is about more than just greed—this is about power and pure control, but most of all, this is about the defiance of one nation who stands deeply rooted with a fierce faith not to crumble before these horrific genocides. They are a nation devoted to God and the very place they rest as His promised land.

“Israel stands alone in this fight, and you two were chosen to protect and guard her and her people, and it starts right here in our very own nation—a nation that was once an ally to Israel has now become the enemy,” Finnegan says with piercing eyes.

Niki throws her fists down on the table, pushes her chair back forcefully, and stands to her feet. “Are you’re all fucking mad!”

“Niki, wait—” I say calmly.

“No! Do you not see what’s happening out there?”

“I know exactly what’s happening,” says Finnegan.

“Then you understand how ridiculous it is for these two to be a part of it,” she says.

“It may seem absurd to you now, but believe me, this is very real. They have been chosen,” says Father Joseph.

“This is insane,” she says hysterically.

“We didn’t ask for this,” I say to her.

“And I didn’t asked to be raped either, but I had no choice.”

“The choice of my fate has already been decided … I can’t change it now.”

“So, how are we going to do this then, because I’m not going to stand around and watch you die.”

An argument ensues over the strategy among everyone at the table blasting at each other on what should or shouldn’t be done and why. I’m completely overwhelmed by the childish banter, so I secretly walk into the bathroom to wash off the blood that has now crusted over.

I look in the mirror and see my mom’s reflection behind me, stroking my hair as I reminisce about when I was a little girl. I can hear her saying,
You’re a very special girl, you know. Regardless of what you become when you grow up, never forget where you came from, stay rooted in your faith, and never back down from what you believe in. Stay close to your brother. You will need each other.

The image of my mother’s face quickly fades away and a new one takes its place, but this time it’s Jacob’s voice screaming my name as a gunshot pierces his chest. The image quickly vanishes, and tears run down my face. I drop to the floor and weep.

My grief is shortly interrupted by the bickering that’s still ensuing outside. I wipe my face, walk out the door, and slam my dagger down on the table, silencing the room.

“Stop it! Listen to yourselves. Have you so lost hope that it has come to this?”

Everyone just looks down in silence before Father Joseph speaks. “Our faith has not been broken.”

“Then why do you argue over such petty things? Evil lurks around and thrives on your incessant bickering, waiting for you to give in. I need your minds clear now because I can’t do this alone.”

“So what are you suggesting?” asks Finnegan.

“We will start here and find out where they have taken the people who have been removed from their homes,” I say.

“And then what? This battle crosses the entire nation,” says Finnegan.

“We shall prepare ourselves to kill whatever evil lies before us as we make our trek toward the east. If we are to make a change in this war, it will be to cut off the source that feeds it. Our journey leads us to the Capitol, where the enemy sleeps, and I don’t intend for mercy to be a part of this plan. Dead or alive, President Kriel will have to answer for the pain he has caused this country to endure, and I will be there to see that he does.”

If we can encourage a following to spread like wildfire, we can fight this cancer with a revolution. A rebellion is what this country has needed, and a rebellion it will get.

I ask for Niki to stay behind with Father Joseph in the den because I can’t afford our journey to be slowed down, nor could I live with myself if she is killed.

“We have but two days left to prepare before the seventh day of the new moon. We won’t be coming back anytime soon, so take what you can,” I say privately to Gabe. He avoids my eyes; I can tell he’s disengaged and almost dejected knowing Juliana isn’t here with us. “Hey, I need you focused here, okay? You have all the resources you need at your fingertips. This isn’t a time to hold back.” His stony eyes fix me in an unworried gaze, but his face paints quite a different picture.

“I’m scared,” he mutters.

“Hey, I’m still here to protect you, and I trust that you will do the same for me,” I say as I hug him.

He makes a feeble attempt at smiling. “I’ve already been working on something special for you. I started on it the first day we arrived here in the den. Come and take a look, I think you’re going to like this,” Gabe says, smiling a bit more now.