The Gatherers
Year One
Episode # 2 -
The Beginning Of Sorrows
“For nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom:
and there shall be famines,
and pestilences,
and earthquakes,
in divers places.
All these are the beginning of sorrows.”
-Matthew 24:7 & 8
“It’s a secret…I can’t tell you.”
-William “Crazy Man” Fronk
******* *******
He took a deep breath, sucking in air as if it was the only lifeline he had left to grab onto. The pain was so sharp, he closed his eyes and held onto his left arm as tight as he could. His left shoulder had been dislocated from the accident, but now after he had used the side from the wrecked plane on Interstate 90 to pop it back into place, the pain was intense. He slid down the wall of the plane and knelt on the pavement, waiting for the pain to subside.
Michael Lenox thought an eternity was passing by, yet pain was something he was accustomed to so he rode it out. When it finally began to ease, he opened his eyes and relaxed his breathing. He slowly moved his left arm up and down, testing it. There was still some pain, but mostly an ache, which was the only reminder now his shoulder had been dislocated at all. With the pain as a dull ache, he was aware the rain had begun to fall at a fast pace, like little needles. He narrowed his eyes and rose to his feet.
He turned his head. “Bear…?”
He didn’t see his friend and partner any where. There were vehicles all over the interstate, but not a single one was moving. Some of them were off the road or had crashed into other vehicles. It almost looked like a scene from a smash-up derby race. The only thing that made it worse was the wreckage of a plane lying across both the north bound and south bound lanes of Interstate 90. People were moving about, some helping one another, some sitting or standing in a daze, and one guy in particular was kneeling before the wreckage of the plane, screaming incoherently.
Lenox wiped at his eyes because of the rain. “Bear!” Where could he have gotten to?
They had to get a move on. They had to find a way to reach Bunker Island, especially if they had just been attacked by terrorists. On their way there, his partner wanted to get to his apartment to check on his family. For his partner’s sake, Lenox hoped they were alright.
Lenox moved away from the plane, his eyes searching for his friend. He tried to focus on finding him rather than listening to the screams and cries around him. He turned his head, and there he saw the truck. It was an old, rust bucket if he ever saw one. A ‘67 0r ‘68 Ford, by the look of it. It was the one which had sideswiped him just before he crashed and lost consciousness. The truck was on the side of the road, and someone was sitting in the passenger seat.
It was out of morbid curiosity Lenox headed for it, because he was only dimly aware of a memory that was playing in his mind. He could have sworn there had been no one behind the wheel of that truck when it sideswiped him.
Lenox got to the truck and pulled open the door to the driver’s side and he saw an elderly man sitting on the passenger side. The man didn’t look well. His face was ashen and he was just sitting there, staring off in the distance. What made the scene even worse was the glove compartment was open and a pistol was in the man’s lap. Making the whole thing even more surrealistic were the clothes lying in the drivers seat.
What happened to the driver? Lenox wondered. He looked at the man with the gun. “Hey,” he said. “Sir…can you hear me?”
The man continued to stare.
Lenox tried to consider his options as the rain continued to pour, but he realized he didn’t really have many. He knew he wouldn‘t be able to get to the gun in time, so he had to try to keep the man talking in hopes to buy time for his partner to find him. “Sir, listen to me…I need you to hand me that gun.”
The man continued to stare, but this time he did respond. “What…?” He blinked. “Hmm?” Slowly, he turned his head and looked at Lenox. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry. I must have dozed…” He trailed off as his eyes took in the clothes in the drivers seat. “Oh, my dearest Linda…She was all I had left, but she’s gone now. My precious grand-daughter is gone.”
“We’ll find her,” Lenox promised. “Just hand me the gun and I’ll help you find her.”
The man wasn’t listening. “She just turned 16 and I was teaching her to drive. Oh, she was so excited. Sweet young girl. Wanted to be a teacher…Wanted me to get to know God like she did.” He shook his head. “But I was so stubborn. I didn’t listen.” He looked into Lenox’ eyes. “I’m not the only one. You didn’t listen either.”
Before Lenox could do anything to stop him, the man put the gun under his chin and pulled the trigger.
“No!” Lenox shouted, raising his hand helplessly toward the man.
It was too late. The bullet went through the man’s head and the top corner of the roof of the truck. His body slumped in the corner, against the door, and remained still. Lenox stared in disbelief. He had seen many things in his life time, but people still managed to surprise even him.
“Why did you do it?” Lenox asked the dead man in a hoarse whisper. Then, he looked at the clothes just lying there. Hesitantly, he picked them up. A summer dress, a shawl, and under garments were what he held in his hands. On the floor of the truck were a pair of sandals. There was also a purse in the center of the seat. On the seat where the grand-daughter had been sitting were also a ring, a watch, and a necklace with the initials WWJD. “What the devil is going on?” he asked himself.
“Michael!”
Lenox turned his head and saw Albert Barrington approaching him. He was carrying something in his right hand. “Al, this guy just blew his brains out.”
Barrington moved toward him, slowing his pace, and looked into the truck. When he saw the man and the clothes in Lenox’ hands, he shook his head. “He didn’t have to do that,” he said sadly. “There’s still hope.”
“What are you talking about?”
Barrington turned to him. “The Rapture happened, Michael.” He pointed to the clothes in Lenox’ hands. “This girl was raptured and this man--” he pointed to the man in the truck. “--couldn’t deal with it so he killed himself!”
Lenox saw the Bible in his friend’s hands. “You went back to the SUV…to get Canaan’s Bible?"
“We need it.”
“How do we need it?”
“I don’t know, but we need it. We need a Bible any way, if there’s ever any hope of trying to fully understand what happened here.”
“We were attacked by terrorists,” he said. Then, he held up the clothes. “They must have used some kind of biological weapon for it to do this. That's the only explanation. My only concern is what will happen to those of us who weren’t affected. Or does it affect every one the same way?”
Barrington frowned. “You think people disappeared because of a manufactured chemical released by terrorists?”
Lenox paused. “Al…I’m only aware of two people who vanished. This man’s grand-daughter, and Canaan. What makes you think more disappeared?”
“Because the rapture happened!” he exclaimed. “I’m trying to tell you the Lord has returned to take His people off the earth because the Tribulation has begun. We’re standing at the beginning of sorrows, Michael! This is the beginning of the end.”
Lenox let out a sigh. “Do you really believe that?”
“Yes, I do. Maybe you don’t, but you will. You’ll begin to see it’s true. Especially when the Antichrist begins to try to set himself up as God on this earth and--”
“Wait a minute! Hold on! Where in the world are you coming up with this stuff? Al, you didn’t get raptured? If these people did get raptured, then how is it you’re still here?”
“I’m telling you I thought I was okay, but obviously, I was wrong.”
“If this stuff is true, how did you go wrong?”
Barrington paused. “I didn’t accept Him.”
“You didn’t accept who?”
“Jesus. I didn’t accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.”
Lenox frowned. “Do you know how crazy that sounds?” Then, he thought of something. “Wait…If you’re telling me you’re still here because you didn’t accept Him…then, your wife and daughter are gone because they did?”
Barrington nodded, slowly.
“If they’re gone, Al…why do you need to go home?”
“I…I want to see for myself. I have to know. I have to know for certain that they’re okay.”
Lenox paused. “Then, we’ll go to your apartment. If you need to do this, we’ll go, and I’ll stand beside you on this, but don’t expect me to believe it because you do. We’ll check on your family, and if they’re there, we’ll take them with us to Bunker Island. If they’re not there, we’ll just go.”
Barrington nodded.
“The question is, how do we get there?”
Barrington looked at the truck. Suddenly, he got into it and sat behind the wheel.
Lenox frowned. “What are you doing?”
Barrington silently mouthed a prayer to God as he turned the ignition key. To his joy, it started right up. “Yes! Thank you, Jesus!”
Lenox scowled. “Hey, if we were hit by some kind of Electro Magnetic Pulse, how is it this truck is still running?”
“For one, it doesn’t have any computer chips in it. It’s outdated, Knox.” He forced a grin. “Kind of like you are.” He looked at him. “Come on. What are you waiting for?” He turned on the automatic windshield wipers as the rain continued to fall. Somewhere far ahead, lightning struck the ground and thunder erupted.
Lenox didn’t know what to do with the clothes so he just dropped them onto the ground. If the girl really was gone, she wouldn’t be back for them anyway. He went to the passenger side and opened the door. “Sorry, ole’ timer,” he said softly as he gently laid the man onto the ground beside the truck. He felt bad about leaving him on the road, but time wasn’t on their side. Whether the Rapture happened or a terrorist threat, they had to move.
He climbed into the truck and closed the door. It felt good to get out of the rain, even if some of the rain drops were coming in through the bullet hole in the roof. “Let’s go,” he said.
Barrington stepped on the clutch and put the old truck into gear. Then, he drove along Interstate 90 on the way to Albany as quickly as he could as people stopped to stare. Some even called out for help. He knew there was no way to help all of them, and he prayed for forgiveness because he felt like he was abandoning them. But he had to know for himself about his own family and what their fate had been.
He knew with his heart…but he just had to know by seeing it for himself. So until he was there in his own apartment, he wouldn’t have any closure at all.
At Bunker Island in the Adirondacks of Upstate New York, there was a flurry of activity. Director Darren T. Fuller had ordered groups of armed men to patrol around the farmlands of their hidden facility and protect it at all cost. He was already reacting as if America were at war and under attack, and he didn’t want to take anything for granted. A dazed and confused Keith LeBeau was following different orders from the Director. The Gunship known as Storm Breaker was now the pilot’s number one priority.
Unfortunately for LeBeau, he couldn’t get the special helicopter to operate and began to go through it once more. His mind, however, was still reeling from the vanishing of Kevin Vogel. He now realized his long time friend had been right all along. Now he found himself in a new dilemma. He wanted to get saved, but didn’t know how to, so as he worked, he continued to pray to God for salvation and desperately asked Him to send someone to him to help him understand how to get saved. He kept going over in his mind of all the conversations he and Vogel had had over the years. Having found Vogel’s Bible, he decided to keep it with him at all cost. Whenever he took a break from working on the Gunship, he began to diligently search through the scriptures. He ended up taking more breaks than he should have, but under the circumstances, he didn’t feel as if he had any other choice.
He had to know.
He just had to.
In the living room of the farmhouse, Fuller had folded the clothes which had belonged to the vanished Kevin Vogel and placed them on the coffee stand. Now he and Marc Shiva stood there in silence, and looked at the clothes as if Vogel could reappear in them at any given moment.
This, of course, did not happen.
“Looks like he was right,” Shiva commented softly, “and nobody listened.”
Fuller made no response.
Shiva looked at him. “Did the rapture happen? Is that why Preacher vanished like a thief in the night?”
The Director paused before responding. “There were one hundred and forty-eight members of the agency personally hand-picked by myself and Nichole, Marc, and all of them were assigned here. Now, there’s a hundred and thirty-nine. This leaves nine unaccounted for.” He turned his head to regard him with a look. “Their clothes were found just like Kevin’s. They had been in them, but now…Now they’re just piles of empty clothes.”
“Do you believe it happened?”
“I don’t know…” He frowned in thought. “If it did, then, I’m guilty.”
Shiva was puzzled. “Guilty? Of what?”
Fuller didn’t respond to the question. “Marc, I need you to find Ken. I want both of you to assemble two teams. A few of the Huey’s we have are operational and I’m going to need you guys to go out there and find Michael, Al, and Joseph Canaan. I imagine they should have been on one of the Interstates. Perhaps 90, 87, or 787. Just get your teams and go after them.” He pointed at him. “Arm yourselves. There may be terrorists out there gunning for anything that moves.”
The ex-wrestler nodded, but hesitated before he left off to carry out those orders.
Fuller looked at the clothes on the table once more, and ran his hand through his hair. He was tired. And he felt extreme guilt for not believing in the message of hope earlier. Unfortunately, it was too late for him, and apparently, too late for all of the others who had been left behind with him as well. He personally felt as if he had let them all down. How could they possibly follow him when he didn’t follow the truth?
He looked up toward the ceiling, as if looking up toward God.
He shook his head.
No, he thought. No…I will not turn to You now. It’s already too late for me. I failed You and everybody else already. How could You possibly want me to come to You now? It would take nothing short of a miracle to get him to accept God.
Oh God, this can’t be happening!
Cars and trucks had slammed into each other all along West Avenue. It was like a horrible traffic jam that just suddenly happened for no apparent reason. The weather could not be blamed for this, even if the sky was darkening considerably and the rain began to fall harder. People had been going about their day when all up and down the street, traffic stopped with no warning and cars simply crashed into each other.
If Staci Cohen had been completely observant, she would have made notice of the sudden disappearing acts as well. Some people on the sidewalks were jumping out of the way or waving their hands frantically when they saw some of the vehicles swerving toward them…yet some people simply vanished and their clothes and belongings dropped to the sidewalk. Some even vanished while they were in their cars.
However, Staci never noticed any of that.
She only knew that for some strange reason, the foyer to her building had locked down, trapping her inside. She couldn’t get out. The management of her apartment complex had felt the need to ensure security was extremely tight for its tenants, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with security. She had enjoyed it while it was there, but now it was too much. When the power went out, the bolts remained locked inside each door and nothing could budge them.
That was the dilemma.
A huge, trailerless rig with a large cross on the front radiator grill had bounced up the curb on the corner of the street and was suddenly barreling down the sidewalk. There was going to be a collision with the foyer she was trapped in. She was going to die if she didn’t get out of there.
In frustration, she pounded and kicked at the door leading to the outside, but it was futile. That door was not going to budge. She quickly looked about and her eyes spotted the fire extinguisher recessed into the wall beside the entrance of the building. Frantically, she opened the small door and pulled out the fire extinguisher. She turned directly to the locked entrance and slammed it into the glass door. The glass spider-webbed out into several cracks. She hit it again, and the glass made way.
Just as the rig smashed into the foyer, Staci dove through the entrance way she made and hit the floor inside as glass rained down all around and upon her. The rig kept right on going through the foyer, missing her within seconds of where she had been standing.
When the dust settled, Staci raised her head and slowly turned to look out the broken door. She could see there was no more foyer, and heard the rig crash into the side of the building. It was clearly scraping against the side of it. She pulled herself up from off the glass littered floor, amazed she had survived such an ordeal. Hesitantly, she approached the door and peeked out.
The rig had come to a stop, against the building.
Putting aside how close she had come to death herself, she suddenly began to worry about the driver. Perhaps he had had a heart attack or passed out. She didn’t know, but certainly he needed help now. She hurried outside in spite of the rain, careful not to trip in the debris and came to the passenger side of the rig. She reached up for the door, opened it, and then, pulled herself up onto the step to look inside the rig.
The driver wasn’t there.
All she found were a pile of clothes, a wedding ring, and a watch. The man who had driven the rig was simply gone, vanished in the blink of an eye.
It was then that Staci realized what had happened.
She had been left behind.
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