Arrived (38 page)

Lionel looked at the Unity Army. All day they had advanced at a snail's pace. Now the army covered the desert like the clouds covered the sky, a perfect mirror. Only one was beautiful and the other hideous.

Vicki held Judd until the fatigue stiffened her whole body. She lay down beside him, an arm draped over him. The rising and falling of his chest let her know he was still alive.

The sun's orange glow reflected in the clouds above, clouds she hadn't seen earlier. She wished Judd would wake up so they could share this.

She tried to shut out the conversation of the GC soldiers around them. Many mocked the prisoners, saying they were Jesus freaks or Ben-Judah freaks or cursing them. “I don't know why they had us take prisoners in the first place,” one said. “We should have killed them all where they stood.”

Later, when a group of soldiers moved toward Vicki, she propped herself up on an elbow. Her leg ached from the deep wound, and she worried it would get infected.

Commander Fulcire picked out prisoners to be taken away. He turned and waved a hand at Judd. “And that one too.”

“What!?” Vicki shouted. “Why are you moving him?”

Fulcire glared at Vicki. “We're burning the dead for health reasons—”

“He's not dead!” Vicki yelled.

Fulcire cocked his head and stared at her.

“Please, God,” Vicki prayed silently, “help Judd wake up.”

“Do I know you?” Fulcire said, squinting.

“This is my husband,” Vicki said, ignoring the question and looking away. “I won't let you take him.”

Two soldiers approached Judd. “Your husband is dead, rebel,” one soldier said, taking Judd's arms. The other moved to his legs and stooped.

Vicki breathed another prayer as she fell on Judd's torso and screamed in pain.

Judd's eyes fluttered and he moaned.

Fulcire moved closer as the two men tried to pick Judd up. The commander held up a hand, so the soldiers dropped Judd.

“Ah, back from the dead, are we?” Fulcire crooned. He knelt beside Vicki. “Something looks familiar about you. You're from the United North American States, right?”

Vicki hugged Judd and ignored the man. She decided she wouldn't speak again unless she had to. If this guy figured out who she was, her life was over.

Fulcire stood. “Take them both to interrogation.”

Vicki didn't protest when the men helped them to their feet. Judd was still groggy, but he made eye contact with Vicki and put a hand to the back of his head.

“We're going to be okay,” Vicki said. “Look at the clouds.”

Judd glanced skyward, and his mouth opened in an
O
. “He should be here by now, don't you think?”

“Soon,” Vicki said.

Conrad glanced at his watch. It was about noon in the Midwest, and the people asked Enoch to teach them more. Conrad listened intently and looked at the sky. Something was happening with the clouds.

Enoch explained that twenty-one judgments had come from heaven in three sets of seven. These showed God's mercy on one hand, calling people to repentance, but also God's anger at evil. According to the Bible, the judgments were poured out by angels from bowls or vials.

Enoch went through each of the seven bowls, judgments that came in the form of sores on people's bodies, the sea turning to blood, rivers and springs turning to blood, the sun becoming hot enough to burn people alive, New Babylon's darkness, and the drying up of the Euphrates River.

“The seventh bowl judgment, the one we still await, will be poured out upon the
air
so that lightning and thunder and other celestial calamities announce the greatest earthquake in history. It will be so great it will cause Jerusalem to break into three pieces in preparation for changes during Christ's millennial kingdom. It will also be accompanied by a great outpouring of hundred-pound hailstones.

“And what will the general response be from the very ones God is trying to reach and persuade? Revelation 16:21 tells us that ‘they cursed God because of the hailstorm, which was a very terrible plague.' ”

“And this is what's coming next?” an older man said.

“In advance of the Glorious Appearing,” Enoch said. “Yes.”

Conrad thought of Judd and Vicki in Jerusalem. If they were still there and still alive, the ground would soon be shaking beneath them.

Judd was dropped on his back near the Unity Army command post outside what was left of Teddy Kollek Stadium. It took him a few seconds to catch his breath. Soldiers plopped Vicki down beside him, and he tried to help her get into a comfortable position.

“Are you okay?” Vicki said.

“There's a knot on the back of my head and I have a headache the size of Cleveland, but I think I'm okay. What happened?”

Vicki filled him in. “I think Fulcire knows who I am. I mean, he may not have figured it all out, but he remembered something about me.”

“Let's tell him we were over here on vacation and just happened to get caught up in the war.”

“And what do we tell him about not taking Carpathia's mark?”

Judd bit the inside of his cheek. “We have a skin condition?”

Vicki shook her head. “I'm glad one of us has a sense of humor right now.”

There were several other prisoners on the sidewalk outside the stadium. Some looked like they had been beaten and were waiting for another round of questioning.

Listening to the soldiers, Judd picked up information that Nicolae Carpathia was in Jerusalem but would soon be heading to Petra. Rebels currently held the Temple Mount, but the Unity Army was going after them. The GC now controlled most of the Old City. Something was brewing to the south and northeast, a revolt of some sort among Unity Army troops, but Judd couldn't figure out what that was about.

A GCNN reporter with a camera crew shuffled by taking shots of the prisoners. Judd and Vicki turned their heads as they passed.

“This is something, isn't it?” Vicki said. “To be in the middle of Carpathia's army on the last day of the world.”

“If this is the last day,” Judd said.

“What do you mean?”

“What if Tsion was wrong? Even Jesus said no one knows the hour when he's going to return.”

“True, but I think he was talking about the Rapture when he said that. From Daniel 9:27 we know that the Glorious Appearing happens seven years after—” Vicki stopped as Commander Fulcire returned and spoke in hushed tones to another officer.

The officer hustled to Vicki, held out a small electronic device, and mashed her fingers across a square pad.

“He knows,” Vicki whispered.

The commander returned with a smile, holding the device. He turned it around, and Judd tried not to react. Vicki's picture, along with her personal information, flashed on the screen. She was one of the most wanted young people in the world.

“So, Vicki B—” Fulcire grinned—“we finally meet. Who would have thought I'd have to come all the way to Israel to find you? What a lucky break.”

“Your luck is about to run out,” Vicki mumbled.

“I'm sorry. What was that?” Fulcire said, kicking at Vicki's injured leg.

Judd wanted to kill Fulcire, but he scooted closer to Vicki, trying to protect her. She writhed in pain, and Judd noticed blood seeping from her bandage.

“You've been with the rebels,” Fulcire said. “We've wiped out most of them, but some are still in hiding. I want to know where.”

“Even if I knew, I'd never tell you,” Vicki said through clenched teeth.

“That's the same thing all you Judah-ites say. That friend of yours back in the States, Mark something. He said he would never tell us a thing, but the prospect of the blade—how should I say it?—loosened his tongue.”

“You monster,” Vicki said.

“Mark didn't tell you anything,” Judd yelled.

Fulcire glanced at Judd and smiled. He motioned for a soldier.

“What are you doing?” Vicki said.

“Maybe you won't tell us what we know if we threaten
you
, but what about this husband of yours?”

“No!” Vicki screamed.

“It's okay,” Judd said, standing. “This is all going to be over soon. You and your army are going back to dust—”

A soldier hit Judd on the knee with the butt of his rifle, and Judd fell with a sickening thud. Something cracked in his leg as he tumbled to the ground.

The soldier pointed his rifle at Judd's head and looked at Fulcire.

“Do you have anything to tell us now?” Fulcire said to Vicki.

“You know where our leaders are,” Vicki cried. “They're all at Petra.”

“We know the rebels use tunnels,” Fulcire said. “I'd rather not blow up all these buildings to find them. Lord Carpathia will need them. Show us where the rebels are.”

Vicki looked at Judd. If she didn't give Fulcire the information he wanted, Judd would die. If she did give the information, rebels would die.

“Don't do it,” Judd said, gasping at the pain.

The soldier hovering over Judd kicked him, and blood spurted from his mouth. Judd's head hit the concrete hard, and Vicki fell on top of him.

“They're going to kill us anyway,” Judd managed to say. “Don't tell them anything.”

“I won't let them hurt you,” Vicki said.

The soldier raised his gun again, and Vicki held up a hand. “Stop! I'll tell you what you want, but you have to stop.”

Fulcire waved the soldier away and knelt near Vicki. “I'm waiting.”

“No,” Judd groaned.

“I'll take you there,” Vicki said.