Wesley Snipes - Talon of God

She lowered the gun at once, grabbing Robbie in a bear hug in the same motion. “Thank Jesus you’re all right!” She turned around to the crowd behind her. “It’s okay! It’s Maxwell’s children!”

Through the open door, Lauryn saw a crowd of men, women, and children on their knees. Some she recognized as regulars from her father’s congregation. Others were strangers, but they all had objects of faith—crosses, rosaries, stars of David, copies of the Quran, whatever they could carry—clutched in their hands, and they all looked terrified.

“What’s going on?” she asked as Miss Yolanda shuffled them inside.

“Ain’t it obvious?” the old woman asked, resting her shotgun on her shoulder. “It’s the end of the world. Judgment Day.” She nodded at the crowd. “When it started, we all came here, and good thing. The Lord’s House kept us safe, but things outside keep getting worse.” Her eyes went to the shadow of the floating fortress in the sky outside, and she crossed herself. “We’re all praying for our souls. So glad you’re here, Lauryn. You should join us.”

“I can’t yet,” Lauryn said, pushing away. “I need to talk to my dad. Where is he?”

“Lying down a moment,” she said with a frown. “He’s been leading the prayers and keeping things together ever since this started. Poor man was practically dead on his feet before we could convince him to take a rest. He’s in his office.”

Then Lauryn knew right where to go. “Thank you!” she called over her shoulder as she ran down the hall.

“Best make it quick!” Miss Yolanda yelled after her. “Emergency broadcast just went out saying all of Chicago’s in some kind of containment zone. The National Guard will be rolling in soon as they can, but that won’t keep the devil out.” Her voice started to waver. “It’s the end of everything!”

“No, it’s not,” Lauryn said firmly, stomping down the hall with Talon, Will, and Robbie right on her heels.

I hope.

Like most of the community rooms in the small brick church, Maxwell’s office was in the basement, squeezed in beside the choir rooms. It was a tiny closet of a space made even smaller by her father’s insistence on keeping and displaying every gift anyone had ever given him. After decades of ministry, this meant there was no longer room for anything but a tiny table, a chair, and a threadbare couch. Her father was stretched out on the latter, lying with his eyes closed and his worn Bible in his hands. He jerked awake when Lauryn entered, blinking in the lamp like he wasn’t sure what he was seeing, and then his dark eyes began to shimmer.

“Lauryn,” he whispered, heart in his throat. “Robert.”

“Hi, Dad,” Lauryn whispered back. “We—”

Maxwell lurched up before she could finish, dropping his Bible on the floor in his rush to grab his children. “I thought you were dead!” he cried, clutching them both to him. “Thank you, God! Thank you for sparing my children!”

For a moment, the three of them just stood there wrapped in the tangled knot of each other’s arms. It was the closest they’d been to being an actual family Lauryn could remember, and she would have happily stayed there forever. But they didn’t have forever. They might not even have until morning unless she moved quickly.

“Dad,” she said, breaking away at last. “I need to talk to you.”

“What?” He shook his head. “No, baby, you need to go upstairs with the others and pray. The end is—”

“No. It’s. Not,” Lauryn said firmly. “I know things look really bad, but this isn’t the Apocalypse. It’s just an attack, and if we don’t want to go down, we need to fight back.”

Maxwell gave her a severe scowl. “Lauryn,” he said firmly. “I know you don’t believe, but surely you’ve seen what’s happening? The signs in the sky—”

“No, that’s actually not it at all,” she said quickly. “I have seen them, and I do believe.”

“ You believe?”

The question came out blatantly skeptical, not that Lauryn blamed him. “I do,” she said with a sheepish smile. “You know how you always used to say God would give me a sign? Well, tonight he smacked me upside the head with one, and I’m telling you, God is not ending the world. He wants us to make sure that doesn’t happen. I know this is going to sound really crazy, but everything that’s happened tonight isn’t due to God’s wrath. It’s the result of an attack by hell on Chicago. That said, the creatures out there aren’t demons. They’re transformed people. Those are our neighbors, and they need us to save them.”

“She speaks the truth,” Talon said, stepping into the tiny office as well. “Your daughter has received and worked miracles this night, Reverend. She is right. If we’re going to have a hope of saving our city, we need to fight.”

“Fight?” Maxwell said. “Are you insane? We’re not warriors. We’re just—”

“You’re faithful,” Lauryn said. “That’s all that matters. Despite the plague sweeping through Chicago, everyone here has managed to avoid being infected. That’s a sign of great faith and character, which means you all have everything you need to fight this. I can show you how, but you have to trust me… and you have to be brave enough to go out there and do it.”

Maxwell’s eyes went wide. “Go out?”

“I know,” Lauryn said. “It sounds crazy even to me, but I swear this is how it has to be. Every one of those transformed people out there is acting like a hook. That thing you saw in the sky? It’s a fortress full of demons, and the demons possessing all those people are helping to pull it into our world. If they succeed, and it bursts through, it really will be Armageddon. But we can stop it before that happens. We just have to heal those people. I already know how. I did it this morning in the hospital. I did it to Robbie.”

Maxwell gasped. “Robert? You… ?”

“So they tell me,” he said guiltily.

“It’s true,” Will said, leaning in the doorway. “I saw it with my own eyes.”

“And he’s not even a believer,” Lauryn finished, smiling at her father.

“I’m really not.”

But Maxwell wasn’t listening. He was still shaking, looking at his daughter like he’d never seen her before. Finally, he asked, “How do you know all this?”

Lauryn took a deep breath. Here went nothing. “An angel told me.”

If she’d said that to anyone else, that would have been the end of the conversation, but her father was different. Unlike her, he’d always believed. That was why she’d stayed away for so long, because she’d thought he was the crazy one. Now, she could only hope that Maxwell would see past the hurtful things she’d said before and take her at her word. She should have known better, though, because Maxwell didn’t look angry or doubtful or even smug that she’d finally seen the light. He just looked happy.

“I knew he’d reach you,” he whispered, patting his daughter’s shoulders. “I knew you were made for the Lord’s work, Lauryn.” He turned around and bent over, scooping his Bible up off the floor. When he had it firm in his hands, he turned back to her with a determined look. “What do we need to do?”

Lauryn grabbed him and hugged him tight. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for believing me.”

“I always believed in you,” he whispered back, kissing her cheek before he pulled away. “Now I assume you’ll need to talk to everyone?” When Lauryn nodded, Maxwell pushed his way out of the office. “Then let’s go.”

Still grinning, Lauryn followed happily, hurrying after her father as he strode up the stairs with astonishing speed. By the time they made it back to the fellowship hall, everyone seemed to be waiting for them, but Maxwell just held up his hand. “My daughter has something to say,” he said, motioning for Lauryn to get up on the little stage at the room’s far end. “She’s seen the light and knows how we can all be saved. Listen to her. She speaks the truth.”