Tim Marquitz - Armageddon Bound

He knew this better than any of us.

“There is still much to do, my friends, but I’m afraid I can do little to help.” Rahim patted Katon on the leg to motivate him, his moist eyes never leaving mine.

“Take me home.”

Page 247

History Lessons

Back at DRAC, Katon having escorted the doctors who wheeled Rahim into surgery, Scarlett and I were left alone in the small waiting room. Unable to remain still, she paced the room from one end to the other, her leather pants squeaking faintly with every step. So rattled by how fast we’d fallen apart, I sat with my head in my hands and stared at the carpet. I couldn’t even bring myself to think something sexual about the sound Scarlett was making. That alone was a sure sign of Armageddon coming to pass.

With Abraham held captive by Baalth and Rahim broken, perhaps never to walk again, all that was left of the Council was Rachelle. As powerful and as good a person as she was, she would be little help from this point on. Even if she did sense the next ritual, it would be too late to stop it.

Asmoday had done well for himself. In just a few short days, he’d decimated DRAC, clearing the way for the end of the world. Not bad for an underachiever who had been kicked out of Heaven for being the errand boy who delivered the apple to Eve.

Speaking of misguided angels, I glanced up at Scarlett. “Mind if I ask you a question?”

She stopped her pacing and looked at me with baleful eyes, nodding.

“How did Asmoday manage to kidnap you?”

Her face twisted weirdly, as if unsure of what expression to make. “He didn’t.” She took a deep breath, letting it out slow. “Gabriel did.”

I leaned back in the chair, whistling. Scarlett had been drug through the wringer ever since the war broke out and she was forced to take sides. It’d been hard on her having to turn her back on her friends, people she’d known since she came into existence, who had chosen to follow the path of Gabriel. Family one moment, enemies a heartbeat later, she never quite grasped the concept of angels not being the good guys. Her heart belonged to the Angelic Choir of old and she just couldn’t understand why it wasn’t that way with all of the angels.

Gabriel’s betrayal had to have been almost as painful to her as God’s disappearance had been. Everything she was, her whole world view, was tied up in the premise that God was on high and he would lead, she would follow. She’d only recently begun to accept the fact things were different these days and they probably would never go back to being the way she remembered. Now, with Gabriel kidnapping her, all that pain had to have come rushing back, the fresh scars torn open and left to bleed.

I felt for her deep down, though I had to admit I Page 249 was glad I was on the other side of all that. Demons and betrayal went hand in hand, it went without saying. It was never a matter of if. It was always a matter of when. It’s so much easier to deal with that kind of crap when you know to expect it. She hadn’t been raised in that environment like I had. This was all new to her. Though I knew it was eating her up inside, on the surface, she seemed to handle it well enough.

“He’s gone insane, you know?”

I’d kinda thought that already. I just nodded, letting her go on.

“Though he didn’t say it directly, I think he believes God will come back if he wipes out the world. He blames the humans for so exhausting God’s patience He was driven to abandon us.” A saw a shiver run through her. “He’s not going to stop until we’re all gone, Frank.”

Hours earlier I might have argued with her, enough of my confidence still alive to make a case for hope. I’d have told her we had a chance of stopping Gabriel and Asmoday and we could still win out. But now, I couldn’t even lie to her, let alone to myself. I sank down in my seat, worn out both mentally and physically. Scarlett saw my resignation and went back to pacing.

It seemed to me as though there was little else to do but sit back and wait for the big bang. It came two seconds later.

Katon burst into the waiting room, kicking the door off its hinges. It flew across the room and landed in a broken heap of splintered wood against the furthest wall. Furious, his fangs glistening under the fluorescent lighting, he screamed epithets that made even me blush. Had I been brave enough to take my eyes off him and spare Scarlett a glance, I’m sure the color of her face would have matched her name. Rather than do anything to draw his attention to me, I sat back and watched as he gave a row of metal chairs the worst beating of their inanimate lives, thrashing them into tiny pieces and stomping them into the carpeted floor. Even Scarlett took a few steps back, not wanting to get caught up in his tantrum. It was a sight to behold, let me tell you. Once the chairs succumbed to his rage, he whirled to face me. My heart stopped mid beat. I didn’t want to end up like them. I started to sweat.

“I’m going to rip Asmoday’s entrails out through his throat and feast on his treacherous heart.” He stepped in front of me and leaned in to be sure I heard him, his face a wrinkled mess of ferocity. I sat still, like a cornered rabbit, afraid to move for fear he’d take his anger out on me. “I’m going to tear his testicles off and use his seed to write his epitaph. I’ll use his dick as my pen.”

I sensed an opening to remind him I was on his side. “Uh…I’m with you, brother,” I muttered, nodding Page 251 like a bobblehead doll.

My heart started up again when he spun around and put his foot through the wall several feet away. I was more than glad it wasn’t my head. Not satisfied with that small destruction, he began tearing madly at the plasterboard. Clouds of white dust filled the room, settling thick around us. After a few minutes of frenzied tearing, his shoulders slumped and he leaned against what was left of the ravaged wall for support.

“That was our last chance and we blew it.” He turned around and dropped to a seat on the floor, his sad eyes looking up at me. Seems Scarlett and I weren’t the only ones feeling doubt. “Armageddon is coming and there’s nothing we can do to stop it.”

Though unable to cry, Katon’s eyes had no problem expressing his overwhelming sadness. It was heart-rending. Scarlett went to his side and knelt down to comfort him. She was braver than me. His head drooped as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close.

“We have failed,” he whispered, his voice breaking as he said it.

My mind, spurred to life by the adrenaline Katon had stirred up, started clearing the fog of gloom that had stifled its function. I thought back to our encounter with Asmoday as he left to prepare Glorius. Something he’d said rang a bell, but I’d been too distracted, too afraid to recognize it for what it was. It was right there, lurking at the hazy edge of the shadows in my head, but I couldn’t remember.

Grumbling to myself, I leaned forward, looking at the embracing pair as I tried to kick-start my brain. My eyes, as they did every opportunity they got, wandered to Scarlett’s boobs. Katon’s head was nestled between them, safe and secure in the sanctuary of her ample bosom. I watched as her chest rose and fell in steady rhythm, his head drifting along with it, eyes closed. Though I knew he was suffering, Rahim terribly injured, the world about to end, his face had settled into a calm mask. However unlikely it was, he seemed at peace.

A light bulb exploded in my head as I thought that last part. At that moment, I realized something I’d always suspected.

Boobs were the answer for everything.

“There may still be a chance,” I whispered, unable to believe even myself we might still be in the fight.

Katon lifted his head to stare up at me. His eyes were narrow and unfocused as though he’d only halfheard what I said. “What was that?”