Times of Tribulation: Christian End Times Thriller (The End Times Saga, #7) (7 page)

“What do you mean by what’s coming to them?”

“They’ve disobeyed their ruler, so under our new laws, there are no three strikes and you’re out. Powell and the others will be beheaded almost as soon as we round them up and it’ll be televised to the masses. Do you have a problem with the plan, Mr. Davis?”

“Of course not, I’d like to know what’s going on, so I can be better informed. Can I assist you or your men?”

“Do you have any special ops training?”

“No.”

“Then, there’s your answer.”

The fleet arrived under the cover of darkness, which was helped by the ash that continued to cover the sky from the volcanoes that were slowly beginning to stop erupting. No stars or moon could be seen. The security forces scrambled into V-22 Osprey’s, which were equipped for silent running. Wayne would arrive on land once the operation was over with and he would witness the executions in person once they were ready to begin. Then, Sayeed would appear on camera to introduce Wayne to North America as its new administrator.

The operation to round up Powell and the others lasted a little over three hours. Sayeed informed Wayne that Powell was now ready to be executed, so the North American administrator was escorted to a helicopter and was flown to Puerto Rico. Once he landed, Wayne was driven directly to the execution site.

Deciding to stay in the shadows, Wayne watched as Powell was forced to watch as two of his underlings were put into a guillotine. The two men sounded like they were praying in Spanish, which angered Sayeed, “Enough! Let loose the blade!”

The beheading was quick as the blades of the two guillotine’s slid through the two men’s necks with no trouble at all. As Powell was strapped in, Sayeed asked Powell, “Are you sure you don’t want to declare loyalty to the Patriarch? You may get to live,”

“I won’t accept your offer, so you can kill me now.”

“If that’s what you wish, we’ll accommodate you.”

Wayne watched with bloodthirsty interest as the blade was let loose and slid through Powell’s neck, separating his head from his body. Sayeed faced the television camera from the United Earth Television Network, which was the only network currently available in North America, and said, “You have seen what disobedience to your Patriarch leads to. If you know what’s best for you, you will follow all the laws laid out by the Patriarch. Now, I introduce to you your new administrator, Wayne Davis.”

Wayne came out of the shadows, faced the camera with a smile, and said, “Greetings. I’m Wayne Davis, your new administrator. What you’ve seen here today is an example of the power and the reach your Patriarch has over this planet. You get out of line, he will know it. I’m sure the people of North America will behave like the good people they are and the Patriarch won’t have to discipline us again.

“I’m honored to accept this position and I’m sure everyone’s thrilled to have an administrator who follows the Patriarch wherever he may go. In the coming days, weeks, months, and years, we will get to know each other quite well, and I hope that we turn out to be the best region on Earth.

“As I begin my new job, I suggest that you be on the lookout for new policies that will be implemented by order of the Patriarch. Soon, High Priest Josten will also be issuing new guidelines as he melds the world’s religions together in peace and harmony. Any resistance to these new policies will be met with the swiftest of punishments, so it’s in your best interests to follow all the laws put forth by your leader. Thank you for watching and I wish peace and blessings upon all of my friends in North America. Good day.”

As he began to reorganize North America properly, Wayne received a phone call from High Priest Josten. “Hello, this is Administrator Davis, how can I help you?”

“Davis, this is Kevin Josten, it’s been a long time since we last spoke, my friend,”

“Hey, Kevin, nice to hear from you. Congrats on getting the High Priest of the Union job. I know the Patriarch has a lot of faith in you to put you into that position. So, what can I help you with today?”

“Ah, straight to the point as always. Are you aware of the program I’m putting into place where all those who follow the world religion will have to have a mark of loyalty stamped on their foreheads?”

“I’ve read something about it in the daily memos,”

“Good, good. Well, I’m calling you today to ask you if we could use your region as a test bed for the mandatory implementation of the mark. Right now, it’s voluntary, so many have accepted the mark without hesitation. However, there will come a time when the more reluctant will have to take the mark because it’s been ordered or they’ll face the consequences if they don’t. Since your region’s the smallest, due to the loss of population, we want to see what happens when we make the mark mandatory, see how the people react. Would you be willing to subject your people to this experiment?”

Wayne thought about it for a moment before answering, “I think it would be a good idea, I have no objections. When would you like to start?”

“Right now, the mark is being designed and the equipment to stamp each individual is being built. I’d say within the month, give or take a few days. I’ll let you know when we will begin the program,”

“Great, I look forward to it. Thanks for calling and peace and blessings on you, High Priest Josten.”

“Peace and blessings on you too, Administrator. Goodbye.”

Chapter 7

Earlier, when Powell was still in control, his people used drones to search for those who managed to survive the volcanoes and earthquakes, along with investigating to see if land was still viable to use after the earthquakes and after some ash had covered parts of the areas in the search pattern. Dave Abbott was on his way back to the church after snagging yet another large wild boar to feed to the now increasing group of sick and injured that had gathered at the church over the last several days when he suddenly heard a mechanical buzzing sound. Looking up, he saw that it was a small drone. Not knowing what to do, Dave decided to wave at it, since there was probably someone looking at him through the camera he saw that was mounted on top of the drone. Then, someone spoke to him through the drone’s speakers, “Uh.... hello, this is the administrator of North America, Steve Powell. I’m speaking to you from Puerto Rico. Are you all right, sir?”

Dave was hesitant to answer. Powell would be under the leadership of the Patriarch, and as a new Christian, Dave didn’t want to be targeted so quickly by the Anti-Christ and his people. He prayed a quick prayer to ask God to lead him, and then he replied in an accent to try to throw off Powell, “Howdy, Mr. Powell. I’m Dave Abbott and I’m fine. Uh, problem is, we were struck by a right big earthquake around these parts as the volcanoes blew up, so many people are dead. Some, like me, are a bit shaken up, while we have many others who are injured, some badly. We could use your help, if you’re so inclined,”

“They’ll be on their way to you, Mr. Abbott, but it’ll be a few hours before they’re able to get to you. Can you hold out that long?”

“We’ll do our best. We’ve got ourselves canned food and somewhat drinkable water, plus some animals that are still alive to hunt, so a lot of us can hold out for many weeks if we have to,”

“You won’t have to wait weeks. Where can our people find you when they arrive?”

“Well, see that there church over yonder?” Dave pointed to his right.

There was silence for a minute or so before Powell replied, “Why did you have people take refuge there?”

“Mostly we done it because it was one of the few buildings left intact. I heard tell a long time ago that churches are where people in trouble should go, so that’s where the few hundred of us went. There wasn’t anyone there to help us, which was weird, if ya’ll ask me. We found us a lot of canned food and bottled water stored up in that there building, so that helped,”

“Ok, well, sit tight and our people will be on the way. This drone has to keep searching before it has to return for refueling. Good luck, Mr. Abbott,”

“Thanks and happy searching, Mr. Powell.” As the drone continued on its way, Abbott waved at the drone until he could no longer see it, and then he hurried back to the church as fast as he could while lugging the dead boar on a litter.

Once back in the church, Dave sought out the people who’d been at the church longer than he had. “I have some news, and it’s probably not good,”

“What is it?” asked Jeff Michaels, one of the first to have sought out a church to go to after the earthquake, and had appointed himself the leader, since he said he had some political experience as a city councilman for College Station. The others were still unsure if he had asked Jesus into his heart, mostly because his attitude didn’t always reflect a newborn in Christ, so the group was in almost constant prayer about his soul.

“The new administrator over North America, his name is Steve Powell, is using drones to find out the situation around here, and I happened to be one of the people he decided to speak to through his drone. I told them we have some sick and injured, so they’re going to do their best to help us sometime in the next few hours, probably after the drones have finished searching for more survivors. What should we do?”

“I think we ought to accept whatever aid they give us, but we should be wary of their motives. We really don’t know what they plan on doing to people who reject the new world system, so I think it’s best to wait and see,” replied Jeff.

“You mean you don’t really think they’re going to arrest us and chop off our heads?” asked Lindsey.

“They might and then again, they might not. So, they’re going to implement a new way to buy and sell, but that doesn’t mean that we’ll be executed for not wanting to do what they want. I mean, we can grow our own food and Dave here shows that we can also hunt for food too. If this Administrator Powell is willing to aid the survivors with no questions asked, then why should I look a gift horse in the mouth?”

“Whatever you say, Jeff, but I think you’re being naïve,” replied Dave.

“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”

For the next two and a half weeks, the aid received from rest of the North American region required nothing of the people receiving the aid. Dave and Lindsey were among the majority who thought something bad would happen, but they weren’t sure when, so they tried to always be on the lookout for the potential trouble. The minority, like Jeff, thought the majority were seeing problems that weren’t there so people like Jeff didn’t worry about potential problems. Then came the replacement of Powell with Wayne Davis.

Since Powell had taken over his duties, he had his people working at restoring power to the survivors of the former southern United States. Electricity still worked for some, like those in College Station, but now the region were able to access the internet and watch television, even though the only network to watch at the moment was the United Earth Television Network (UETN). Most everyone liked Powell, as he was fair and didn’t seem to be a dictator in the mold of the Patriarch.

The morning of the transition of power in the North American region came to a great shock to many when they watched the execution of Powell and his associates on television. As the people watched the beheading of Powell, they reeled at the shock of seeing their leader beheaded, and felt fearful as they watched Wayne Davis take his position and declare to the region what he planned on doing.

Dave, having lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, knew precisely who Wayne Davis was and what he was capable of, causing Dave to worry even more about what was coming next. He said to those gathered in the church, “I know Administrator Davis will stop at nothing to do exactly what is required of him. He ran Dallas like his own little fiefdom and punished those politically opposite of him regularly. When Dallas’ population was hit with incurable viruses when they took in sick illegals, he sat back and did nothing. If he says he’s going to harshly punish us if we resist, then I believe him. I also have no desire to join the rest of the world in following a new religion, which is something we’ve all be warned about that’ll take place now that we’re in the Tribulation. I also don’t think we can just fly under the radar, so what should we do?”

“I guess we let go and let God. If we continue to be faithful to Him and not buckle under to the world or its leader, we’ll be greatly rewarded when we meet Him after this time of tribulation. I think we should live our lives and deal with whatever comes up day-to-day.” Lindsey replied.

Murmurs of agreement were all around her and most decided to live for God and whatever happened in the future, they’d deal with it when it came up. There were some, however, who felt that it would be better to follow the Patriarch rather than go against the grain, and would wait for the opportunity to join the rest of the world in peace, harmony, and unity when it came.

A few weeks later, they saw an ad on television for the new loyalty mark that was commissioned by the High Priest of the Union, Kevin Josten. The ad held their interest, but also made the group of Texans anxious.

“Attention loyal citizens of the North American region. Are you and your friends prepared to show your loyalty for the Union of United Earth and the global church? In addition to the barcode on your arm, you can get this awesome tattoo on your forehead to show that loyalty,” a picture of person with the symbol on their foreheads flashed on the screen, showing them with their friends having a great time, “and be among the billions who will declare their support for peace, harmony, and unity. Remember, it’s for the children! You can go to your local Universal Congregation office for more details. Don’t delay!”

“Yeah, I don’t think so. I don’t want to burn in Hell for choosing to side with Satan,” Dave said.

“Me either. I wonder if they’re making it mandatory though?” asked Lindsey.

“Does it matter? They’re making it too hard to live without following their rules. Administrator Davis’ security forces go throughout the region and destroy gardens and crops so they can control the food supply. They’ve been taking away rifles and shotguns from hunters so there won’t be anyone who hunts for food. They also view gun owners as potential threats to their power, so guns have been taken away by force. They can and will force us to accept the marks. We can’t fight that!” complained Jeff.