Chapter Thirty Seven
“For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the hoarse voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead shall rise first.”
–Father Abraham, “The Holy Word”. 3 Years After.
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.
* * *
Brother Ezekiel cleaved through the nearest Inquisitor, his bo staff smiting his enemy before he could raise that infernal machine gun. His former Brother fell with a gasp, body shattering in two as it struck the ground.
More bullets flew, but Ezekiel dashed into cover before they could land a killing blow. A predictable click echoed out moments later, followed by another grunt. He used the opportunity before it was lost, leaning out with his own pistol ready. His enemy’s pupils widened, too trapped under a false faith to see how far he’d wandered astray.
Ezekiel brought him down too with a pair of shots to the head. The automatic rifle fell uselessly to the side.
He wheezed for air. A dozen crossbow bolts poked out from his body where he had been hit, and even more blood leaked out from countless bullet holes. It was a miracle that he could still move at all, let alone stand.
Praise be to the Lord for gifting him this much strength.
But it would not last forever. That much became clear the deeper he went through these profaned halls. With blood spilling and his muscles torn, his strength and speed became lower with each engagement. The Devil also taunted him at the back of his mind, blurring his vision as Sin continued growing.
Brother Ezekiel shook these dark thoughts off. It did not matter what happened to his life or soul after, so long as he saved Liam and his family now.
But where could they have gone? Ezekiel studied these halls with disdain. Though Abraham considered this place his new tabernacle, it was but a poor facsimile for the splendor that they had created before. What value did these concrete walls bring when they were recycled from a Sinful world? The love and toil of his Brothers and Sisters were worth far more than this cold, ugly fortress.
Just more proof that his faith is gone, Ezekiel reminded himself. That he’d been so willing to replace their beloved community with Hades’s old fortress showed how much the Father had drifted from their vision of a humble congregation who relied on God’s love alone.
With a heavy heart, Ezekiel replaced the magazine from his stolen pistol and continued on his quest.
Another pair of white-clothed Brothers crossed his path, their eyes frenzied as they charged forth. But they lacked heavy armament of their own, so Ezekiel shoved his way through, merely shattering their limbs so they could not chase. They cried out in rage as he marched onward.
He needed to move faster. The text in the Holy Word was explicit about the ritual that would be performed next. Seven angels would pour the bowls of judgment in quick succession, and the Earth would shatter when God’s vessel absorbed this collective Sin. Many sermons had been held on the seven bowls of judgment as Abraham and the Friars debated their significance, along with how they might manifest.
As Brother Ezekiel moved through these halls, one firm memory stood out amongst all the others, in which Abraham considered that God would guide their hands when the time was right, and seven Friars would stand in place of angels.
Would that be how Abraham believed this would end? Did he now think himself bold enough to behave in God’s stead, using his congregants as mere pawns to force an act that was supposed to be ushered in by divinity itself? Leah Fenix was to make this choice on her own when the time was right. To betray her rights would be a violation of their sacred beliefs, a spiritual rape without equal. How could the Lord smile upon them, were they to betray His trust so flippantly?
No, Ezekiel could not leave this to chance. His own vows under God took precedence, even against someone once as venerated as Father Abraham.
The concrete maze quaked each second, the battle raging beyond the metal bars that solidified the outer rim. Sconces flickered with each explosion, their shadows dancing and twisting like bloodthirsty demons, feasting on the suffering within. The air held a heavy tang of gunpowder and brass, an undertone of death pervading all.
And Ezekiel pressed deeper, his legs struggling to maintain an even pace. He could not stop. Not when his Brother’s family remained in danger.
He reached an opening. This passage split apart like the inside of a prison, with iron wrought railings running along opposing walkways and a gap within the middle. Bridges intersected between.
Gunshots rang out nearby. Liam. Ezekiel sprinted forth, ignoring the growing Sin. He was close now. He could taste their flesh nearby.
He turned a corner and grinned. Liam knelt down ahead, his brown hair matted beneath an acrylic mask as he floundered with a screwdriver, removing the locks from a steel-encased door. A handful of bodies lay sprawled between, their scalps torn asunder through rifle shots. Ezekiel breathed deep and took a step forth.
…Until he saw the red dot narrow onto him. A second human kept watch by Liam’s side. Female.
Evelyn’s eyes met his own, dark as death.
Another chunk of flesh ripped from his shoulder as Ezekiel dove into cover. He rubbed the new wound and winced, more ichor sprouting free.
“Hurry up, Liam,” Evelyn said. “We’ve got another.”
“Liam!” Ezekiel called out.
“Ezekiel, is that you!?” he responded.
“Yes, Brother.”
His wife said something else, too mumbled to hear.
Liam laughed. “Apparently not! Hold your fire, love. This one’s with us.”
Ezekiel stepped into the open, clutching his shoulder tight. Thank the Lord for His intervention. A split second later, that bullet would have claimed his head.
Liam kept to his work, removing the screws in the door. Evelyn kept her weapon trained on Ezekiel.
“Lower your gun already,” Liam scoffed.
Evelyn stared deep. “He’s the one who caused this mess.”
“Look, I don’t have time to explain, but trust me on this. Ezekiel’s one of the good ones.”
She lowered the barrel an inch, but still watched back with venom in her gaze.
“How are you doing, Liam?” Ezekiel asked.
“Better than you, I’d reckon.”
“I have experienced worse.” He looked around. “Where is your daughter?”
“Your father took her,” Evelyn said through clenched teeth.
Ezekiel grimaced. “He is my Father no more. Not after the betrayal he’s inflicted.” He exhaled. “Where did he go? I must put a stop to this.”
“Through this door,” Liam said. “But we’re worried about where he’d take her next. This hallway leads to the garage by the way Evelyn tells it, and Leah’s troops have forced him into a retreat.”
His chest thumped in exhilaration. “Your daughter has summoned angels already?”
He shook his head with a grin. “No, the other Leah.”
So the Head Huntress still lives. Ezekiel considered that truth. Perhaps the Lord worked in more mysterious ways than he first assumed.
“Listen, mate,” Liam said. “We could really use your help. If you have any idea where Abraham would take her, please let us know.”
“Where would he perform the seven bowls ritual?” Evelyn asked. “Would he do it on the run? Elsewhere in the tabernacle? Another church? Back at his old camp? Where would he go if he was forced into a corner?”
“I do not know,” Ezekiel started, but then another idea came to mind. He tilted his head in thought. “Perhaps… Yes, there would be no better place to see this deed performed than the closest he could get to heaven.”
The others paused. Liam turned his head and met him in the eyes.
Ezekiel grit his teeth, recalling his scripture. “‘And after I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.’”
Liam stared blankly, and Evelyn was the one to speak first.
“‘And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angles, Go out your ways, and pour the seven bowls of the wrath of God upon the earth.’” She gasped. “You don’t think…”
“That is correct. He would have no choice but to get as close as possible to see the prophecy fulfilled. A construction that rose to the glory of God.”
She nodded. “Watchtower, then.”
“Watchtower, indeed.”
Liam blinked. “Where?”
“Tallest skyscraper still standing in LA,” Evelyn explained. “The rezzers only keep it in operation as an outpost because it gives them an unfettered view of the California basin.”
“A temple sitting in Heaven, with all the world’s sinners watching on,” Ezekiel emphasized. “If the seven bowls of judgment are to be poured, it would have to take place there.”
Liam groaned. “So we just have to fight through an army of hollows to save our daughter. Just great.”
“You are not alone, Liam. I will help you to see this end.”
The lock snapped off. Evelyn lurched into the opening, her rifle scanning for threats. No movement. Liam nodded, and Ezekiel inched forth, his bo staff in hand.
“Do not take a step further!” another called from behind. A set of clicks reverberated as supporting troops unlocked the safeties on their machine guns.
The others froze in place, but Ezekiel instinctively interposed himself between, arms spread wide. He knew that voice at once.
“Blessed Mother and Father,” Brother Aaron continued. “Why do you persist in fighting against our love? We wish for nothing but the best for you both.” He sighed. “And you, Ezekiel. Oh, how I wished the rumors were not true, yet here you are, abetting in this treachery.”
Ezekiel turned around and held his weapons tight. His opponent stood perhaps twenty paces away, his body clothed in brown, while a squad of four Inquisitors sat to his side, all armed with AR-15s.
He met them in the eye. “This is none of your concern, Brother Aaron. Father Abraham has erred in taking Leah from her parents, and this violation will doom us all.”
His Brother’s lips twitched. “Such heresy! Do you not hear your own vile words?”
“They are the truth. We follow God. God doesn’t follow us. The Father is not above this fact.” He narrowed his gaze. “Or have you strayed so far from our holy tenets that you’re incapable of seeing them? From what I understand, you lead the Inquisitors now.”
His red eyes glinted as he watched them down his nose. “The Friars interpret the Holy Word which the Father has set out, so it is only natural that we determine where Sin has occurred, especially now that our congregation has become so vast. Is this what drove you to commit such heresy? Do you lament over power lost?”
“No, I care for nothing more than what I always have. The safety and love of our congregation.”
“And yet, you kill your former Brothers with ease.”
“No one is above judgment. Not you. Not me. Not even Abraham. If you are to get between a parent and their child… If you wish to follow such an unholy path…” He exhaled. “Please, Aaron, I beg you. Do not allow this distorted version of the Word to continue. There is still time to repent for your Sin. Just as I have tried for myself.”
He humphed. “Each word spoken only taints your soul further, Ezekiel. I have nothing to apologize for. The Lord is my shepherd, and I will follow His Word to the ends of this Earth. You, on the other hand… You are a proven heretic, and I will waste no further words against your Sin.”
Ezekiel frowned. “Very well then. I see that you cannot be reasoned with. I am sorry for what is to come, Brother.” He holstered his pistol and looked over his shoulder. “Liam, Evelyn, you are to not move until the count of five, starting on my signal. After which, go and find your daughter.”
“What about you?” Liam asked.
“I will stay behind and handle these adversaries.”
Evelyn squinted suspiciously. “Why count to five?”
He smirked. “It will be over by then.”
The others watched on, but Brother Ezekiel closed his eyes, letting the Lord speak through him. His body flexed from top to bottom, and he sensed every injury in that moment. From the base of his toes to the tips of his fingers. He could feel his essence and knew how to keep his body functional.
“Let us begin,” he said, opening his eyes. “Now!”
One. Ezekiel launched forth, his legs closing the distance and staff ready for use. The Inquisitors tightened their hold around their weapons, slowly taking aim.
Two. His enemies did not shoot. Not while the Chosen Ones were directly behind. To lay direct harm to either Liam or Evelyn was heresy, even with these stakes so high. God would never allow such sacrilegious violence against his vessel’s parents.
Three. It was at this moment that two facts became apparent for Aaron and his cohorts. The first was that they had chosen poorly in their strategy of using firearms to bring Ezekiel down, given the crossfire risk. The second fact was that their enemy moved faster than expected, and they could not react in time.
Discovering these facts did little to prevent what was to come.
Four. With a flip to the lower end of the staff for added reach, a single wide swing was all Ezekiel needed to cleave through two of the Inquisitors. The polished wood tore through their softened skulls. His grip slipped to the midsection, and momentum aided in his next attack, knocking the unholy rifle from Aaron’s hands before he could open fire.
Five. Still bearing their firearms, the remaining Inquisitors saw an opportunity created. Their barrels had followed Ezekiel’s entire trajectory, and now that Liam and Evelyn were no longer directly to his flank, they no longer concerned themselves with collateral damage. But Ezekiel had planned for this as well, and when the gunfire came, he shifted Aaron in the way. Allied bullets pelted his lithe form, and Ezekiel pivoted into a finale, quickly drawing his pistol. A pair of shots concluded this vile business. The Inquisitors dropped in a puff of black mist that burst from their skulls.
Ezekiel turned back and breathed deep, the Lord’s strength fleeting from his limbs in a flash. Liam and Evelyn gaped.
“Go!” Ezekiel ordered, but that was all he had time to say.
Aaron had not taken the headshot as he first assumed! Ezekiel’s body shuddered as a magazine emptied into his flesh.
But Ezekiel floundered into Aaron before he could land a killing blow. The two grappled against each other. More blows came into his side, and his arms seized as Aaron dug his nails into exposed nerves. Ezekiel was thankfully the larger adversary and could use the power of his legs to his advantage. One twist of his knees, and his Brother became locked in place. Aaron stared on, his eyes widened as the hold tightened. He reached again for that unholy rifle to save him.
Ezekiel watched this motion with disdain. With the power of the Lord at his back, he delivered a headbutt, God’s strength fortifying his own.
Aaron did not even have time to gasp as a larger skull caved into his own. Gore splattered against Ezekiel’s rotted cheeks, the taste of his Brother’s grey matter now clinging to his lips.
But then when Ezekiel looked back up, another rifle barrel pointed directly at his face, a black-colored silhouette raging behind. He tried to move, but found that his limbs had been spent on that final attack.
“Enough with this madness, Ezekiel!” Brother Jericho hissed. “You are not to move again!”
Ezekiel blinked through blurred vision and realized that more reinforcements had arrived. Another troupe of ten was closing the distance, their forms framed in black, with Jericho leading the charge. And his muscles had finally failed him. He wheezed.
But it seemed that Liam and Evelyn had heeded his call and shut the steel door behind, even ramming a metal rod so that none could pursue. Ezekiel grinned, knowing it would take much time before this barrier was breached again.
The Inquisitors reached the door while Brother Jericho barked orders, desperate to overcome this obstacle.
“So it seems that your heresy ends here, Ezekiel,” he said.
Ezekiel coughed up blood. “Kill me if you must, Brothers. It changes nothing.”
“Do not call us your Brother!” Jericho roared, eyes burning below his scarred brow. “You are no longer under the Lord’s grace.”
“That is not for you to decide or anyone else. God loves all without equal, just as we must always do for each other.” He looked to the rest. “It is you who must repent, Brothers. This path that the Father has brought us down is not one that will ever bring us to salvation. Look at how much death and violence it has wrought.”
Jericho sneered. “Sin has corrupted your mind, Ezekiel. How can you say that the Lord forsakes us when we have accomplished so much?”
“And what have we accomplished, Brother Jericho?”
“We have swollen our ranks by a magnitude once deemed impossible. We have overthrown the Unholy City and made it into one beloved by God. We have destroyed so many heretics, and soon, we will end this Armageddon and Behold the Lord’s greatness. Why, our Brothers have never been stronger than now!”
He clenched his fists, his maroon eyes on fire. “All of this was accomplished by thrusting aside those arbitrary rules you insisted upon. By the mere act of claiming heretical weapons as our own, our strength became compounded, and this treacherous world bent to the Lord’s strength in a few short months alone!”
“This is a false kingdom built upon a bedrock of Sin, Brother Jericho. It does not matter how large our congregation becomes or how many heretics we defeat. If we abandon that which made us pure, it accounts for nothing.”
He grit his teeth. “I used to respect you, Ezekiel. But I see now that you are weaker than I believed, and would never be able to bring glory to the Lord. Were we to have followed your ways, the Head Huntress would have exterminated us during the first sortie. You clearly know nothing of God or what it means to lead Inquisitions against Sin.” He narrowed his eye into the rifle’s ironsight, ready to kill.
“If that is all you have learned about being an Inquisitor, then I must apologize to you, Jericho. I failed as your Brother to instill one simple truth.”
He raised an eyebrow, amused. “And what is that?”
Brother Ezekiel stared straight into his eye.
“God’s true warriors need no weapons.”
It all happened in a flash. Strength returned to Ezekiel’s limbs, and he flew straight up, as if raised by the Lord Himself. He clenched his fist and dove forth.
Jericho and the others opened fire at once, but it did not matter. Brother Ezekiel was no longer in control of his body. The Lord blessed his movements as he weaved in and out of the combat, smiting these misguided soldiers left and right.
It was not without error. Ezekiel lost a forearm against one brandishing a sword, and a shotgun blast exploded the last fibers in a knee. But Ezekiel’s frame merely pivoted to compensate. Like a ray of light cutting through a storm, he carried on with torn bones as his blades. The Inquisitors dropped, their pathetic weapons useless against God’s true power.
Soon, only Jericho remained. He switched to melee before the end, swinging a machete that could cleave an ordinary man in two. But even this tool was not enough to stop the power coursing through Brother Ezekiel at this moment. As the machete sliced into his neck, God pushed him forth with all His might. The two bodies became one as momentum carried them over the iron-wrought railings. They fell below.
Ezekiel gasped as he struck the ground, his strength once again extinguished. He glanced to his side. Jericho stared up, his jaw dropped and eyes empty. Grey matter leaked from his cracked skull where he struck the ground.
Ezekiel grunted, unable to do anything else.
Thank you, my Lord. Regardless of what came next, Ezekiel had been given a chance to repent for his Sins. After all the violence and hatred he had committed, the Lord had not forgotten him nor turned His love elsewhere. He had done what he could to save another in need. Yes, that would be enough to let him rest easy.
The blurred vision tightened into a tunnel the longer he lay in place… A bright light flashed ahead… He did not have much time himself… Of this, he was certain.
The light grew ever brighter. Voices began to echo out.
“Holy shit,” one said. “Did one of our crews get here first?”
“Think they did this to themselves,” another replied. So distant.
“Well, well,” a third said, this one female. “Looks like we find our guardian angel.”
A face appeared in front of his own. The mouth was obscured beneath a veil of burgundy cloth, but the eyes pierced deep into his soul from within a pale sea. Violet, like the flowers that bloomed when the virgin Mary was told of her immaculate conception.
“Looks like we’re too late,” the woman said.
Ezekiel did not understand these words, but as the world dimmed further and this pale-faced wraith hovered in front, he remembered another line from the Holy Word, now amended to accommodate this new vision.
And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, he recalled.
Her name was Death.
