Thomson and Baumann stood on the west side of the Potomac with the mass of the Dark Army stretching back into the distance behind them. Banners fluttered in the afternoon wind. The US
Army had pushed them back over the river, but more troops had turned up along with Satan and stopped any further retreat.
On the east side of the river Matthew stood with the Christian Army. David flew down and landed beside him as the light of the day faded
“The final battle.”
“I would have thought there would have been help from other countries,” said Matthew as he stared at the Dark Army.”
“They've been dealt with,” replied David.
“What way?”
“The Whore of Babylon.”
“What happened with Thomson?”
“Oh, let's say the fight goes on!”
The waters of the Potomac beside the Key Bridge boiled, and a large object rose from the depths and broke through the surface. The Red Dragon flew up into the air and then turned toward the Christians. David instinctively rose to high altitude taking Matthew with him as the dragon sprayed fire around the US Army.
Screams and the smell of burning flesh filled the air as David grew in size to match the dragon.
He anticipated that the beast was about to swoop again down on the Americans; so, leaving Matthew hanging in mid-air, he shot down and grabbed the dragon around the neck. The two descended into the waters of the Potomac.
Thomson turned to Baumann and said: “Now!”
A black surge flew over the Potomac giving the Christian Army no time to recover from the attack of the dragon.
As night settled over the Chesapeake the over-whelming smell of sulphur infused the air. The people who had remained in the area moved away from the water. A column of fire shot down from above, piercing the darkness, and set the whole bay alight. It was as if a match had been applied to a basin of petrol. A wall of fire spread in every direction. Fish fried on the surface of the water and any craft unlucky enough to still be out on the water burned or melted.
The rollicking flames obscured the stars of the early night as they rose high into the sky. Bay side towns and villages were set alight by flames that slithered through the streets like large fiery snakes.
Woods and fields blazed, and gas stations exploded as the inferno reached inland from the water’s edge.
Eventually, the advance of the flames stopped and the bay just burned. The whole area was a large red cauldron with the clouds reflecting the intense colour. The US Army shot an artillery barrage at the attacking blanket of darkness, but years of conventional training could not prepare them for this enemy. Tanks drew back while firing wildly at the black mist that crept over everything. Demons killed the artillery men and turned the canons around and fired into the city.
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The Dark Army advanced further and further into the city killing people and soldiers, some of whom rose again to be black servants. The clouds over Washington grew dark as the Christian Army disappeared.
Black entities crawled over the Lincoln Memorial and up the Washington Monument. Darkness flowed along every street choking the heart out of the city. People ran screaming out onto the sidewalks only to be engulfed in the gloom. Cars were piled on top of cars. The blackness crept up buildings smashing windows and pulling out horrified people and throwing them to their deaths.
Lightning streaked across the dark sky as the Beast grabbed the US Army general and pulled him alongside the smouldering wrecked shell of the White House.
“Watch this, you’re going to like this. The Rapture with a twist!”
Naked Christians floated out of homes across the city and then rose toward a life in Heaven. But, when they reached the under-layer of black cloud, they were repelled and descended back to Earth with flailing limbs.
Holes opened in the ground across the city and Satan’s spawn gushed out. They grabbed the helpless Christians and ripped them apart. One demon with withered black skin grabbed a screaming woman, and growled “Welcome to Heaven,” before laughing and biting off her head.
The general turned away from the scenes of carnage as grinning demons walked around with severed human heads and other body parts.
Then, a great wind blew up the Potomac and crashed into the city, picking up the Dark Army soldiers and casting them over the water. A tornado sucked the dark mist up into the heavens.
Thomson and Baumann were pulled up with limbs flailing into the maelstrom and taken along the Potomac toward the Chesapeake.
“You can't do this to me; I'm the Devil!” Thomson shouted.
But there was no reply, just the whistling of the wind as it carried him and Baumann away from Washington DC.
Under the surface of the river the dragon, sensing something above was wrong, shook off David and shot up causing an eruption of water. Anyone left watched in amazement as the red blur sped up and then across the sky toward the helpless Thomson and Baumann.
After a moment the beast's flight became erratic, and it tried to reduce its speed by flapping in the opposite direction. But, nothing happened, so it swung around 180 degrees and tried to fly back the way it had come. But again, nothing happened, and the dragon was pulled along backwards toward the inferno that was the Chesapeake. The beast growled and sprayed fire all around.
David rose out of the river and gazed at his friend still hanging in mid-air. He lowered Matthew to the ground and flew off after the dragon.
“David!” Matthew shouted, but David did not look back.
The flames from the Chesapeake reached for the sky as the red dragon was pulled down growling into the lake of fire. A terrible scream erupted as the beast sank below the surface. Then all went quiet save for the sound of burning.
Baumann tried to claw at the air as he was pulled down into the inferno. He howled as the flames licked at his feet as he was dragged down. Then in a flash he was tugged below the surface.
Thomson spun at high speed, but this did no good as he was dragged into the fire.
“Fuck you!” He growled as he came out of the spin. He crossed his hands over his chest as he dropped into the fire.
As he was about to touch the surface of the burning water a black blur appeared and pulled him away. A burning hand reached out from the fire and latched onto his ankle.
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“What the fuck have you done?” shouted Matthew as David landed beside he and Joshua. Thomson was left hanging above, hands still crossed over his chest.
“What did you save him for, it's against what's written in the Book of Revelation?” Matthew continued.
“Matthew, we would be the same as them if, with my abilities, I did not save him!”
“What about the other two, you didn't save them!”
“The dragon is a different entity. And as for Baumann, well... let's say we'll bump into him again.”
“And what about God? I mean you've gone against the Bible!”
“Oh, I think we'll be okay in that direction,” said David, smiling at Joshua. “Grondin's my nemesis. I would not, you would not, exist if he wasn't around! Anyway... he's not the Devil now that I have lowered his power level.”
“So, he's now good ol' Grondin.”
“Well... yeah!”
“What about the people killed from the Dark Army rampaging through the land?”
David shrugged his shoulders as he turned and walked away. “Book of Revelation,” he said over his shoulder.
“So, you save Grondin, but not these innocents?”
“You forget Matthew,” growled David stopping and turning with blazing eyes, “I'm a demon!”
Interlude
The flame of the burning light flickered as the king sat gazing into the near distance amid the royal tent.
“Father, I cannot sleep,” said Prince Alfred as he entered the tent.
“Sleep is a precious quantity on a night such as this.”
“I keep thinking I will be killed on the morrow, and what of mother and my sisters?”
“If it's any comfort, I have been through this many times, and I will guard your back,” the king said as he cursed in his thoughts: the fact he and his son had been born to such times!
End
Matthew turned toward the Christ figure with a puzzled look.
“Matthew, in the Book of Revelation the Beast was the Roman Empire, meant obviously for earlier times. It was not a man, and now today the same is true.”
“What, the Beast isn't someone?”
“The Beast is the American Empire, which is now in its death throes.”
“American Empire! I don't understand.”
“Oh, come on Matthew, the US has been empire building for a long time and is now over the top and on the way down. The masters are not best pleased.” Joshua said after gazing at the red sky in the distance.
“The President and his senators?”
“Ha, the President and his senators–Rulers of the Earth, I think not!” David laughed as he walked back toward the pair after calming down.
“An elite rules the material world Matthew–the President does what he's told.” Joshua said.
“What's this about death throes?”
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Joshua stared at Matthew, and then said, “Well, America is failing economically both internally and within the global set up, so the elite and war-mongers are trying to take over as many countries as they can: Iraq, Libya, Syria. I think the idea is to take over, physically and mentally, as many countries as possible, and to form a one world government before the end.”
“Satan must have had a great influence on America, what was he trying to do?” Matthew asked.
“Same thing; the ultimate plan was to create a one world community which would have been easy to control.”
“So, he wanted to control the world,” said Matthew and then paused for a moment. “But what about all that stuff about bow down in front of him and he will give Jesus or Joshua the world?”
“He has the Earth to give away yes, but he has no real control over independent thinking humans.” Joshua said.
Matthew looked at his feet for a while, and then said, “Okay let's get this straight: Thomson and Baumann were to be killed in the lake of burning sulphur otherwise known as the Chesapeake.”
Matthew then looked at David. “But you saved them!”
“Well... yes.” David answered.
“So, where do we go from here?” Matthew asked
The sound of laughter made the three men look at Thomson, still hanging above them.
“You go nowhere from here, and the plan's back on,” hissed Thomson as he unhooked himself from the force David had on him and disappeared.
“Damn, he must have received power from somewhere,” moaned David.
“From you David,” said Joshua.
“What?”
“He absorbed your anger. You absorbed some of his power over the Chesapeake and you unwittingly gave it back by becoming angry.”
“Sorry my friends. I did not mean for this to happen. I was trying to figure out what to do with him!”
Flames spread around a field of wild grass beside the Chesapeake as Baumann rolled over after releasing his hold on Thomson's ankle. He came to a halt at the bottom of a hillock. For a moment the only sound came from the burning, which was petering out. Then, Baumann emitted an ear-piercing howl as he pushed himself up onto his knees. He raised his head, and flames burned in his eyes until he shook his head. After another moment his abdomen jerked violently as if he was about to vomit. When he opened his burnt mouth flames shot out and scorched the grass in front of him.
Baumann pulled himself up and felt his face; felt his arms; felt the burnt tissue. He staggered as if drunk toward a darkened farmhouse and crashed through a wooden gate. He looked around the property. The occupants had fled. Baumann, walking more steadily, headed over to a light-coloured pickup sitting beside a barn. He opened the driver's door, found the keys in the ignition and started the engine. He grinned as he looked at himself in the rear-view mirror. His skin was healing. “Now I'm back in business!” he said as he shot off along the driveway.
The sun shone down on Washington the next day like a blessing from above as the city slowly emerged. People who had stayed crawled from hiding places and looked nervously around not knowing what to expect.
The Pentagon remained closed down as did the CIA Headquarters. Helicopters from unaffected air force bases flew over the city and sirens from a thousand ambulances filled the air.
In the distance the Chesapeake waters had returned to their natural state. In the city many of the buildings were burnt out shells. Smoke from many sources curled up into the sky.
Matthew coaxed David, after sleeping in their room at the motel, to head to Canada to secure a flight to the UK. Matthew acquired a black pickup truck, filled up at an unmanned gas station, and the two headed north.
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The radio news told of the destruction.
“I've got a bad feeling about running away,” said David sitting up in the passenger's seat.
Matthew sighed. “I knew this was coming!”
“Maybe we should just stay put for the time being,”
“Och, and here's me looking forward to getting home!”
“There might not be any home if we don't stay and confront what's to come.”
“Aye, now the Devil's got his power back, and we don't know where Baumann is do we David,”
said a sarcastic Matthew, “And how's it solely our fight?”
“I'm not going to answer that my man!”
Matthew left the free-way at the next exit and crossed over to the other side, which was empty as all the traffic was heading away from the Washington area.
“What we gonna do, boss?” Matthew asked
“Well, we'd better find Joshua and get his take on things.”
“There's something I feel that you and Joshua are not telling me; hell, not telling the world!”
The pair drove back to Washington and moved back into the room in the empty motel they had vacated that morning where Joshua was waiting for them.
“Joshua!” said Matthew as he opened the door.
“Gentlemen, I knew you'd come back!” Joshua said moving away from the window he had been looking out.
David threw his bag on a bed and said, “We still have work to do.”
Matthew placed his bag on the other bed. “And here's me thinking we were clear of all this stuff!”
“Oh, it's not over yet,” said Joshua.
“What can be done?” Matthew asked.
“Nothing to stop them coming.”
“What...? Who's them?”
“Entities who have been here before,” said Joshua looking meaningfully at David.
“They've been popping into this dimension at will,” said David.
“This doesn't sound good!” Matthew sighed.
“No,” said Joshua.
“So, they've been here before, have they?”
“Oh yes,” said David looking at Joshua, “a long time ago they walked the Earth and they mucked around with the early human DNA so they are involved in things that evolved humans take for granted.”
“So, what we have coming is a battle for the Earth!” Matthew said throwing his arms into the air.
“Not only do we have the Devil and his side-kick to handle we also have some... things!”
“And we don't know who we can trust,” added David.
“You have to trust in me and my Father,” said Joshua.
“We are half-demon!” Matthew stated.
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