The Seventh Seal (14 page)

Sally and Jana spent most of the day entertaining Jay.  Jana
loved the free spirit and positive outlook captured by a child.  The boy ran
around the shop, building castles out of paper cups, and wondrous, imaginary
worlds out of broken realities.

They decided to stay in the shop during the day, and move
out when night fell.  It would be much easier to spot three people on the
deserted streets in the daylight than under the cover of night.  Jay fell
asleep in a corner as the sun crested on the noon hour.  The action, loss of
routine, and nocturnal activities took their toll on him.  Sally sat next to
Jay, stroking his hair.

“He’s so precious,” said Jana.

“Too bad his father doesn’t think so,” replied Sally.

“What happened… if you don’t mind me asking?”

“What usually happens when assholes are assholes.”

“If it’s too painful….”

Sally tucked her long hair behind each ear.

“We met in college.  Both of us were partying every night,
really enjoying ourselves.  I was laying on the lawn on one of those fall days
that you can taste.  The sky was a perfect blue, October leaves filled the air
with their scent, and you knew winter was breathing down your neck.  He walked
up to me with a sweater around his waist and a coffee in one hand.  I’ll never
forget the spicy-sweet taste of the pumpkin latte he gave to me.  ‘Saw you here
and thought you might like a warm beverage.’  Not exactly the most romantic
pickup line in the history of the world, but the gesture was so thoughtful.”

Jay stirred.  He whined a bit and rolled over.  Sally held
her hand on his chest, which calmed him down.

“I hate to call it typical, but that’s what it became.  We
went through the usual phases.  You know, that first one is amazing.  You can’t
keep your hands off of each other.  If you’re not rolling in the sheets, you’re
thinking about it.  His touch is electric and you orgasm constantly.”

Jana blushed and looked down at the floor.

“Anyway, we finished school.  I got a degree in early
childhood education and he got his in engineering.  He got hired at a big firm
on the east side and the storybook marriage ensued.  We bought the house, the
dog, the cars, and the look of the American dream.  I went to work teaching
second grade at the local elementary school, and he climbed the ladder of the
corporation.  When Jay was born, asshole was working fourteen-hour days.  I
know, it’s hard to bitch about that when the money buys you anything you want. 
Anyway, one Saturday morning we had our cell phones on the kitchen table.  I
was the only one awake.  I remembered getting a call late the night before, and
so I flipped through my incoming-call list to see who it was.  I realized as
soon as I saw the number that he was cheating on me.  I’d picked up his phone
by accident.  That same number with the initials ‘M.W.’ next to them made it
pretty clear that this was a frequent conversation.  I know I shouldn’t have,
but I scrolled through his text messages.  I guess I don’t need to tell you
what I read and who it was from.  Within six months, it was all over.  He put
us up in a cheap efficiency in Cleveland Heights while he took the whore to his
new house in Geauga County.”

Jana put her hand on Sally’s face, and felt the warm touch
of tears.

“I’m sorry.”

Sally wiped the tears from her eyes and tussled Jay’s hair
again.

“Don’t be.  I have Jay.  He’s everything to me.  Do you have
kids?”

Jana’s forehead creased and she slipped her hand from
Sally’s shoulder.  She stood and faced the front door.

“Yes.”

Sally waited, expecting an explanation.

“Sally, I made bad decisions as a teenager.  This one guy,
Alex.  We were hot and heavy in high school.  We didn’t care about anything and
thought we were invincible.  He decided to join the Marines after graduation. 
The spring leading up to boot camp we spent a lot of time together, most of it
in the backseat of his Camaro.  I knew I was pregnant about three weeks after
he shipped out.  My mom and I were close, so I told her.  She was pretty upset,
as you can imagine, but she let me decide.  I gave my son up for adoption.”

The women sat together in silence.  A dog barked in the
distance, while a swift breeze plastered newspaper and blue shopping bags up
against the unbroken windows of the shop as random noises filtered back to
them.

“Someone’s out there,” Jana said.

Sally picked up Jay and moved into the back room.  Jana shut
the door behind them, then turned and crept alone toward the front door.  She
put her back to the cold wall and leaned her head out.  There was a sudden sick
crack of skull, then blackness filled Jana’s vision, and stars burst in her
head.

“Good morning, sweetheart!”

A cotton rag kept Jana’s mouth dry and prevented her
speaking.  A chair leg came into view.  Jana saw the rough wood grain of the
spindle.  Pieces of food, probably ketchup drips, hung onto the bottom.  A tangle
of hair clung to another leg.  She looked at her hands, and at the duct tape
binding them to the chair.  Jana’s head throbbed and her shoulders ached.

“I’m going to pull this out, and you are not going to make a
lot of noise.  Honestly, it doesn’t matter if you do because nobody will hear
you.  But I don’t want a headache, so no screaming, understand?”

The Commander’s crinkled face loomed over her.  One
bloodshot eye and one black eyepatch held to pitted, pasty skin.  His nose
stuck out, reddened on the end.  Scars ran down one cheek, and the foul smell of
salty beef and broccoli on his breath made Jana gag.  He wore a beret over a
balding and flaked scalp.  Jana nodded her nonverbal promise of compliance.

“Here.”

The rush of cold air filled her throat.  Jana choked on it
and coughed, burning her lungs.

“Sit up.”

Commander Byron lifted Jana by the shoulders and propped her
against the wall.  Both hands remained bound to the chair, stretching them
across her body toward the street.  She looked down at herself and at the
fastened button on her jeans.

“I am a gentlemen, you do not need to fear that.”

“Who are you?”

“We found the woman and child.  They have been secured and
taken to the offices of the Holy Covenant for evaluation.”

“Who are you?”

“You need to slooow down, Jana.  We will have plenty of time
to get to know each other.”

Jana’s face twisted in horror.  He took Sally and Jay, and
knew her name.  The manner in which he’d gathered the information worried her
the most.

“I am Commander Byron.  I serve the Holy Covenant and have
been running the First Cleansing in Cleveland.”

“How do you know my name?”

“I asked Sally.”

Jana shook the grogginess from her head.

“Jana,” he continued.  “That is not a common name.  Do you
know any other Janas in this town?”

His accent appeared only on certain words, and Jana had a
hard time placing it.  It might have been German, possibly Russian.

“Do you spend your time searching for other Byrons?”

The commander slapped her across the face.  His black,
leather glove stung Jana’s cheek, leaving a waft of tanned hide and a red
splotch.  She tasted the rawhide on her swollen tongue.

“You would do best being respectful to me.  I do not want to
harm you, but I will if I must.  You are already dead to the Covenant, unless I
say so.  If you want to live, you need me, and therefore you must treat me with
respect.  Do you understand?”

Jana nodded her head up and down without saying a word.

“Now. Would you care to answer my question?”

Jana looked over Commander Byron’s shoulder.  She saw the
top of a glass counter directly behind him, and the storefront to his right. 
He had dragged her behind the counter, out of sight of anyone passing the
shop.  Jana could not see or hear any other people in the place.

“No sir, I have never met another Jana, here in Cleveland or
anywhere else for that matter.”

A huge grin spread across Commander Byron’s face.  His
yellow teeth glared at her, preceded by the foul breath.  Jana closed her mouth
to avoid tasting the man’s meals from the night before.

“Yes, that has been my thoughts too.  I can’t tell you how
lucky I am.  Of all the Infidels scurrying like rats around the city, I
happened to spot you in my sights.  Can you believe it Jana?  I was on the
streets when you appeared.  It must be an act of God, don’t you agree?”

Fearing another blow for insubordination, Jana nodded her
head yes.  She bit her lip hard, doing her best to keep the tears from flowing.

“How old are you, Jana?”

“Twenty-three.”

“Ah yes, how I remember twenty-three.  Nights and lovers
last forever at twenty-three, do they not?”

“What are you going to do with me?”

“And where do you live?”

Commander Byron kept ignoring her questions, waiting with
patience for the information he needed.  The art of interrogation took years to
perfect.  The commander moved a hand to the knife on his belt and wrapped his
fingers around the handle.

“South Euclid.  What are you going to do to me,
you bastard!”

Another gloved hand rose up and struck Jana on the same side
of the head.  Her eyes rolled back, and then focused on Byron.  She felt her
face burning, growing puffy, and she could taste the salty drip of blood from
her lip.

“You will respect me, young lady, or you will have a very
swollen and bloody face.  I’m going to continue to ask you questions.  The answers
may very well save your life.  If, however, you curse at me or show your
disrespect, I will cut you into pieces and feed them to the rabid dogs in the
streets.  Nobody but me knows you are here.  I have the power to wipe you from
the face of the Earth.”

“I’ll cooperate, I promise.  I’m tired, my head hurts, and
this tape is giving me a spasm in my back.”

Jana forced a half-smile, and lifted her head toward Byron. 
She opened her fists and batted tears away with her eyelashes.

“If you so much as—”

“Yes, you will kill me.  I understand.  My back, please?”

Now Commander Byron smiled.  He held a pistol to Jana’s head
with one hand.  The other held a sixteen-inch knife that sliced through the
tape on her hands, wrists, and ankles.          

“Thank you,” she said, with a note of sincerity.

The circulation came back into her limbs and she was able to
stretch the muscle spasm from her back. 

“May I stand?”

“Sure, my dear, but don’t expect the eye of this barrel to
be looking anywhere but at your forehead.”

“What’s next?”

“That all depends on how you answer my questions.”

Jana nodded.

“Go ahead.”

“Do you know someone named John?”

“No.”

Commander Byron struck Jana square in the mouth.  The
previous slaps transmitted a blunt warning.  This one delivered the pain.  Jana
slumped down in her chair and spat blood on the floor.  Her tongue nudged a
loose tooth in the front, and her lip swelled.

“Don’t lie to me.  Do you know someone named John?”

“I don’t know—”

Byron hit her again, in the same spot.  Stars swirled around
Jana’s head.  She lost her equilibrium and fell off the chair onto the floor
while spitting teeth into her palm.

“I can see that your leg is not fully healed.  That is where
I will be headed next unless you speak the truth.  Do you know someone named
John?”

Jana pushed the hair from her face and bit down hard into
the sleeve of her sweatshirt in an effort to stop the bleeding.

“He is my husband.”

Commander Byron helped Jana back to her chair.  He reached
for a bottle of water on a nearby table and took a clean handkerchief from his
pocket.  He poured water on the cloth and dabbed Jana’s chin, attending to the
blood.

“You are a very pretty woman and I would like for you to
stay that way.  It is not easy for a man to strike such a beautiful woman, but
I must do what I must do, for the greater good.  I am sure you understand.”

The pain surged in her mouth.  Jana managed to nod.

“Take these with this water.  It will help with the pain.”

He handed Jana the water and a bottle of aspirin.  Jana’s
eyes brushed past the Cyrillic characters on the label.

“Do you know that the leader of the Holy Covenant has
identified a ‘John the Revelator’ as a key person of interest?  He does not
want John killed or injured because he wants to speak with him.  If you tell me
where he is, I can get him safely back to Father with minimal pain involved.”

“I don’t know where he is.”

The knife plunged down toward Jana’s gunshot wound.  It
managed to slice her jeans and lodge in the wooden chair.  She gasped and
pulled back from the knife.

“I believe you,” said Commander Byron.  “When is the last
time you saw him?”

“He was heading to a Halloween party, on the thirty-first. 
I waved to him from the window as he drove away.  Later that night, a bunch of
soldiers stormed into my house and shot me in my bed.  I was able to hide until
the next group searched the house.”

“Very good, Jana.  Where was this party?”

“His friend Reggie’s house, in South Euclid.”

“Of course; you know where it is?”

Jana paused.  She looked down at the knife and slid her
tongue through the raw openings in her gums.

“Yes.”

“I am so glad to hear that.  It appears you and I will be
traveling companions.  How far is it from here?  I am not fully acquainted
with, how do you say, the ‘Mistake by the Lake’?”

“That’s an old joke.  It was never funny.”

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“A few miles.  Will we be driving?”

The commander stood and walked toward the counter.  He
grabbed a book of matches from a dish sitting on top of the glass case.  Byron
lit a match and applied it to the reeking stub of a half-smoked cigar.  The
initial stench of the relight made Jana gag.  She felt the aspirin crawling up
her throat, but managed to force it back down with another swig from the water
bottle.  The commander shook the match and tossed it into a stainless-steel
sink behind the counter.  The sizzle of the match in water made the only sound
inside the building.

“No.  If he is there, that would alert him.  Given our
respective physical limitations, it will take us time to get there.”

He motioned with a cane to his right leg.

“However, we have plenty of time.  How does your schedule
look for the next three or four days?”

“I might have to comply, but I don’t have to put up with
your shitty attempt at being funny.”

Commander Byron laughed.  Bursts of smoke launched toward
the ceiling fan while his hearty chuckles propelled them out.

“This is true, my dear, you do not.  But I think you will
find our partnership much more tolerable if you do.  I am sure you want to see
your husband again, correct?”

“Yes, I do.”

“You see, then; we are partners.  I deliver your husband to
Father, and you both get to live.  Given the situation in this town, I’d say
that is a deal worth taking.”

“Why is this happening?”

“My dear, I don’t think you are in any position to ask questions.”

Jana slumped back down in her chair, exhausted and tiring of
the conversation. 

“Can you at least tell me who is behind this invasion?”

“An invasion implies takeover by a foreign and hostile
power.  I’d like to call it a liberation.”

“Liberation from what?”

The commander shook his head and looked down his nose at
Jana.  He shuffled to the chair next to her and sat down.  The recent activity
caused sweat circles to bloom under his arms.  Jana could taste his musky body
odor.

“From yourselves.  You have forsaken God.  You have forsaken
goodness and now, like the Great Flood, He is cleansing the Earth of its evil.”

“That is nonsense.  Who has ordered this?”

“Father has received the message from upon high.  He leads
the Holy Covenant, and with my help, has executed a very successful First
Cleansing.”

“This is the United States of America.  We tolerate
religious freedoms.  We don’t impose them on our citizens.”

The commander stood.  He took two long drags from his
dwindling cigar and snubbed it out on top of the counter.

“God’s law supersedes man’s.  You have wandered.  It is time
for the shepherd to bring you back home again.”

Jana stared at the Commander and shook her head at him.  She
pulled her bottom lip in with her top teeth, stifling any further provocations
on the matter.  Byron waited, anticipating another barrage of doubt from the
unfaithful.

“When do we leave?” Jana finally asked.

“You are a wise conversationalist, young lady.  You quit
pushing when you realize the rock is poised at the bottom of a mountain.  We
will leave tomorrow morning.  I have no fear of traveling during the daylight
hours.  We have the authority of Father and the Lord Almighty behind us.”

“Commander, promise me that you will not harm me or John.”

“I promise that I will deliver you to Father unharmed.  From
that point on, it is God’s will, not man’s.”

Uncomforted, Jana found a space in the storeroom.  She used
cardboard boxes to furnish a sleeping pad.  The commander, holding on to a
golden age of chivalry, created a similar one in the store.  Jana’s mouth
ached, and breathing brought a cool pain to the exposed nerves of shattered
teeth.  Restless on the makeshift mattress, she turned the recent events over
and over in her mind as she drifted into a fitful sleep, pondering a bleak
future.

Commander Byron waited until he heard the rhythmic breathing
of the woman.  He moved toward the front door and stared out into the empty,
black streets.  The lack of noise stunned him the most as he stepped outside.

Byron had spent his entire adulthood in the bustle of urban
life or war, both of which drummed on the ears of their participants.  Mortar
rounds, machine-gun fire, tanks, sirens, boom boxes, and road construction: all
gone.  An occasional howl from a lonely dog or the rumble of a military truck
heading to an unknown destination were the only remnants of the former
lifeblood of the city.

Let it rot to hell
, he thought.

Nothing but cesspools of so-called humanity.  Millions of
poor, destitute souls soiling each other for an opportunity to buy yet one more
piece of plastic garbage.

Commander Byron ripped the silver crucifix from his chest
and threw it to the ground.  With a steel-toed boot, he crushed the soft metal
into the cold asphalt.  He pulled a yellowed journal from an inside pocket and
moved a finger over the faded handwriting.