The truth
I walked around the area looking for anything suspicious. Nothing. Not a living soul to be seen, except of course for my partner, Mike, who was leaning against a wall smoking, sending up smoke signals for anyone to find us! All the worry and speculating has been useless, I doubt anything phenomenal will happen despite the rumors. We’ve been here for three nights and it has just been routine guard duty. Well routine except for the location. I’ve never heard of placing sentries in a spot like this, there isn’t normally much life here at night and only minimal during the day.This past week has been full of enough zip to last me a lifetime. Holiday’s bring to many unstable emotions to the surface. Now that the calendar is getting back to routine, all the crazies are going to their own homes; hopefully far, far away. The traffic should be horrendous for a day or two but it will be going out instead of coming in. At any rate, I got a new coat out of the deal. I won it gambling during the execution of (in) justice, the previous owner didn’t need it anymore.
I leaned up against the building next to Mike and looked up. Something caught my eye in the skies. Oh, beautiful! Two shooting stars were streaking across the starry night. I made a wish and watched them draw their lines downward…downward….down….Hey, they were going to land here; I thought with definite uncertainty. Closer, closer…Mike and I were looking straight up; our heads at awkward angles unable to move, refusing to believe our eyes. Kapow. The earth shook, quaked actually. Dirt and rocks flew upward and cascaded down, raining on our skulls; thank heavens we had on our helmets. (In retrospect maybe being knocked out would have been more dignified.) Once every thing settled two beings stood near the impact. I rubbed my eyes and looked at Mike who was also rubbing his. For the most part, we seemed to be viewing the same thing. I looked up for signs of more incoming, how big would this invasion be? This must be a trick to get us to abandon post. This couldn’t be really happening. I scanned the area searching for an artillery crew or mercenaries hiding behind trees with night goggles: anything for a logical explanation. Nothing, no sign of human life, (and I‘m including the two strangers in this assessment!).
The space men, (who arrived without a space ship,) ambled casually towards us, or the building we were guarding. Either way, we were closer than we wanted to be. I tried to pull out my weapon, my hands wouldn’t move, I tried to run but my legs wouldn’t respond to my commands. Yet, my bladder could move, reverting to pre potty training, it drenched my uniform and the ground below me. I was mildly satisfied to hear Mike’s bladder douse the soil also. Could we both be sleeping? Or having a stroke, simultaneously?
The immortals simply glanced at us (did I see pity in their eyes?) and opened the locked door , to the structure that was holding us up. They didn’t even use a key, or for that matter their hands! How in the world did they do that? The building was secured tighter than Fort Knox to avoid any potential break-ins When they entered I grabbed Mike’s arm and pulled his dead weight with me, no pun intended. He still had a cigarette, almost down to the filter, dangling from the left corner of his mouth. His eyes were blank, he sure wasn’t handling this well.
From a hiding place feet away I watched the aliens through the open door. The room was ablaze with light, how could that be, these buildings aren’t hooked up to electricity, the occupants preferring the dark to conceal signs of aging. A figure inside was sitting on a ledge unwrapping his covers. Folding them neatly he laid them aside; he certainly hadn’t been raised in a barn. He stretched his arms upward and arched his spine as though just awakening from a satisfied slumber. He had his back to us and I could see the bloodless scars where the whips had landed, bloodless because he had given his all and been completelyd drained. One of the foreigners bowed in front of him offering him a clean robe that he slid over his head gratefully. The recently departed then shook the hands of his welcoming party and clinched them to his bosom. He had been expecting them! They seemed to be well-acquainted, old friends reunited, and I got a strong feeling they weren’t from Kansas. The stories he had been telling for three years were true. I had watched this man take his last breath; I was even now wearing his coat, which was starting to affect me. I whipped it off, tossed it into the bushes and ran. To hell with Mike who had become as taunt and unmovable as a statue.
I was near the exit when I collided into the guards from the front gate sprinting in the wrong direction…. towards the building I had been fortifying. We sprawled over the ground rolling over submerged bodies; arms, and legs entangling each other’s effort to regain footing.
“What are you doing away from your post?” they asked me.
“What are you doing away from yours?” I questioned in retaliation.We had all abandoned our stations and shared in the guilt.
“We saw an explosion and felt a quake. We thought you’d need back up. Did they come to steal the body after all?”
“I guarantee you won't believe me! Spacemen have landed! ” as soon as the words burst from my lips I knew I was doubling my quandary. One of the sentinels reached for his cell phone to call for help, I presumed. However, not for the alien intruders but for the babbling idiot; me.
I attempted to resume my retreat but hands grabbed my arms and pulled me back on the incorrect course. They carried me under my armspits, with my legs high off the soil . We headed into the sunrise, no wait; the sun was rising behind us in the east. Where was the light ahead of us coming from? We found Mike on a tombstone chain smoking, he currently had three cigarettes dangling from his mouth and was lighting a fourth. This situation needed lots of nicotine to calm his nerves.
We neared the crypt in time to see a car park by the walkway and some women move toward the burial chamber carrying baskets. Were they on a sunrise picnic? Come on, ordinarily no one here needs nourishment!My partners and I hid behind another building and observed as the luminous creatures that were now sitting on top of the mausoleum conversed with the females. This place was becoming a beehive of unauthorized activity, it was apparent we weren’t earning our pay tonight.
“Why are you seeking the living among the dead?” The emblazoned figures asked the ladies who were inspecting the interior of the vault, lifting sheets and looking under them as if the body had reduced in size. It was obvious, the light was on but no one was home. I noticed the bed clothes had an impression of a man imprinted on them that wasn’t there when we interred him. We had used the best clean linen available, offered to us by a prominent man who had also donated the tomb.
I looked at the guards who were staring at me.“Did you let his friends steal his body? You could lose your job for this.”
“This guy apparently has connections in places higher than we thought! Besides no one stole his body, it‘s still here, somewhere! ” We all looked each other in the eyes (all but Mike who was frisking himself for more cigarettes) then we returned our interest back to the main stage in front of us.
About this time, a male rounded the corner and the women ran towards him, begging for their friend’s cadaver, insisting he had a right to the proper burial rituals. They stopped mid way in their tracks when he called out their names and then picked up speed, throwing themselves at his feet, hugging, crying and laughing all at once. He raised them to their feet and delegated to them the responsibility of assembling his supporters together in Galilee.
We had all witnessed this chap's execution. We had seen him beaten, scourged, brutalized. We had beaten, scourged and brutalized him. We had been present at his demise. We saw him take his last lung full of air and send it heavenward. We were involved. We had seen the death certificate, the hour of death, the cause of death. We had been part of the burial party, making sure all was eternally sealed and secured. Even if he had been unconscious when we interred him, there's no earthy way he could have survived three days and nights without food and water after the abuse we gave him and come out looking so....heavenly! It was this same gentleman that stood in front of us now, talking, hugging, and carrying on with life. Making plans for a reunion. No way would the officials accept this story. We would all be unemployed by the end of the day. Something tells me that is the least of our worries.
The women jumped into the car and took off like professional Indy 500 drivers, careening to the exit where the other guards were located.
“Somebody better stop them for speeding before someone gets killed,” Mike sputtered. He was coming out of his stupor and grasping for normalcy. I could see his whole body quivering.
“I don’t think death is much of a problem anymore, old buddy,” I commented.
One of the foreigners approached me with the jacket I had discarded into the bushes earlier and I placed it over Mike’s shoulders to prevent him from going into shock. The garment seemed to do the trick, Mike started recovering the minute it touched him.
I conducted Mike to my coupe and settled in next to him behind the wheel.
“Are you going to the office to file a report?” One of the guards asked, not wanting the accountability him self.
“Nope, I’m heading to Galilee.” I answered“”That’s where he’s going. Great ! Are you bringing him back?”
“Nope, I’m joining up with his followers, this isn’t another David Karesh. This is the real thing!”
As I drove, Mike and I listened to on going coverage of the breaking news. The governor was investigating allegations of chloroform-filled grenades disabling several guards (now on administrative leave of absence) in charge of protecting a recently convicted criminal. His misdeed was bringing a new kingdom to earth: treason . While the guards were unconscious, the offender’s friends stole his body and hid it somewhere. Guards at the exit reported no activity until two cars whizzed by, one loaded with women and one containing fellow guards apparently in hot pursuit of the first vehicle. It looks as if these guards might have been accomplices because they are now AWOL.
AWOL is right, I agreed, we were going After the Word Of Life.Math 26:27-29Math 27:27-31Math 28:1-15Math 27:35, 36Math 27:59-60I John 1:1
