Morningstar/Alignment by Keith Trimm (people reading books txt) 📕

"It’s a freaking animal! Shoot it!" Easton yelled.

"Shut up!" Adams barked back not taking his eyes off the creature. His gun sighted on its massive head.

"I may be many things, but an animal I am not," the creature spoke through its toothy jaw.

Adams lowered his gun a few inches and curled his brow, shocked that the creature just spoke to him. He waited a moment to suck this all in and then asked, "What are you?"

The creature stepped forward, then stood on its thin gangly hind legs raising its wings. "What do you think I am?" it asked.

Adams thought for a moment. "I have no idea what you are, but if you take one more step forward you will be a dead one for sure."

"Who are you?" it asked.

"Pvt. First class Jack Adams U.S. Marines," he replied.

"Are you the son of man?"

One of the men in the back seat spoke up and said to Adams, "I think he’s talking about…"

"I know what he’s talking about. I spent more time in Sunday school than I care to remember. I never thought it would actually come in handy someday," he replied to the solder. Adams raised the gun again to the creature and pointed it between his red eyes and said, "No, I am not the son of man. Are you supposed to be some sort of demon?"

"Some sort you ask? I am the real thing Pvt. First class Jack Adams."

"You’re searching for the messiah? What makes you think he is here?"

"He is here, somewhere. The Morning Star has seen to that."

"Morning Star? Who the hell is the Morning Star?"

"He is the master of this domain."

"Satan?"

"That is one of his many names," it replied.

"So this is Hell?" Adams said with a chuckle.

"You find this funny?"

"No I don’t. If this is Hell then what is that city doing over there?"

The creature turned its head and looked over its shoulder at the city behind it. "Have you ever heard of Sodom?"

"The city destroyed by God? You’re telling me that he sent the city of Sodom into Hell?"

"You will soon see for yourself. It is just a matter of time."

"What do you mean by that?" Adams asked, his arms aching from holding up his pistol.

"You will soon become a permanent resident of the city."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"I do not plan anything. It is the master’s plan."

"Looks like I can do pretty much as I please. I could put a bullet in your skull if I wanted."

"True. You still have free will. God gave that to you. Once you are reborn into Hell, all freedoms will be rescinded."

"How does one become reborn?"

The creature licked its lips and bared its teeth. "All souls he takes, he claims for his own."

"Takes? So you are saying as long as I am alive he has no power over me."

"Correct, but it is only a matter of time for you are trapped here for eternity. You can not live forever."

Adams felt a hot flush as the message struck home. Gritting his teeth, he pulled off a single shot between the creatures’ eyes knocking it back to the ground. It sat motionless.

"Is it dead?" Easton yelled.

"I don’t know. Get us the hell out of here!" Adams shouted to the driver and sat back in his seat.

The driver started the ATV and put it into gear. With a spin of the tires on the grass, they turned around trying to avoid running over the creature on their way back to camp. The gunner sat on his pedestal locked into position ready to fire upon any other creatures that may follow.

"There’s another one! Turn around!" one of the men yelled.

"There all around us!" another screamed.

From all directions, swooping down were the leathery winged creatures attacking the ATV. The men pulled their guns and fired at them as the ATV bounced along the uneven surface.

"We’re not going to make it back to camp!" Easton yelled.

"Head for the city!" Adams yelled to the driver. "If we’re going down then we’re taking out as many of them as we can!"

With that order, the driver turned the ATV around and headed towards the city at 50 mph.

Chapter 24

"Do we have contact from the recon team?" Ramsey asked his radioman.

"Not yet sir," he replied.

"Keep me posted," he barked back and rejoined Tony who was sitting next to the three prisoners tied to a tree. By now all three were alive and their wounds were healed. Tony was dumbfounded.

"So you say this is Hell?" Tony asked Seth looking around at the surroundings. "Looks like Kansas to me," he added with a chuckle.

"Of course my son," Seth replied.

"Don’t call me son!" Tony snapped at him. "There is no Hell!" he barked at Seth and stood up. "Hell is a product of Christian rhetoric. That is all. A means to keep the masses in line, the ultimate punitive punishment. Not a real place."

"Then how do you explain what you have seen before your very eyes?" Seth asked.

"I am sure there is a reasonable scientific explanation," Tony replied.

"Then how do you explain me?"

Tony looked down at Seth bound to the tree with nylon rope. He licked his lips and scratched his chin thinking. "I don’t claim to have the answers,"

"You said yourself that I had died before you were born," Seth said.

"That is what my grandmother told me. I never saw your body. I have no proof."

"Of course not. Your father would never have let you see it."

"Leave my father out of this!" Tony said angrily.

"He is my brother as well as your father. I can speak of him if I wish."

Tony got down on one knee and faced Seth staring into his eyes with anger only he knew. "My father was everything to me. I would do anything to see him again."

"Maybe you will," Seth said under his breath. "Why are you so angry at me?"

Tony leaned back and took a deep breath. "I am not. I am just tired and confused. That’s all." Tony stood again and paced back and forth before Seth thinking. "If this is Hell, how did you come to be here? My grandmother never spoke ill of you."

"Your grandmother hid the truth from you. Your father was a man of God. I was a man of Satan. The family did not know until it was too late."

Tony stepped forward. "You were a Satan worshiper?" Tony asked.

"Let me explain my dear nephew. There are two ways to enter the kingdom of the Morning Star. One is to live a life of unrepentant sin, the other is to be stolen from God by Satan himself." Seth paused and looked into Tony’s eyes. "All souls he steals, he claims for his own."

"What about judgment day? I thought no one went anywhere until God judged the living and the dead?"

"Some have been prejudged. Some have been stolen. Not all wait until the Day of Judgment."

"That doesn’t sound very biblical," Tony said.

"What do you know of the bible?" Seth asked. "I can feel in your heart you are a non believer."

"I may not be a believer, but I have made it a point to study…"

"Study? You have turned the scriptures into a school project," Seth said mocking Tony.

"All I have to have is proof. I admit these events have turned my point of view."

"I see," Seth said and paused to read Tony’s face. "Some have crossed over. Some, the Morning Star has judged for himself. He is jealous of his creator. He does not want the Messiah to come and judge the living and the dead. He is selfish, wanting to keep what he has stolen."

"What has he stolen? What are you talking about?"

"You for one thing," Seth replied.

Tony could not believe his ears.

"He has tricked you and these men into traveling here. The Prince of Lies planted the airliner you discovered. You followed it here and now you are trapped. You shall be baptized into Hell."

"Satan planted the airliner? I knew time travel was impossible. I was correct."

"Not that being correct has done anything for you now. You will soon be baptized into his kingdom."

"How is that done?" Tony asked.

"You have come as a living spirit. Once you have been released you will be trapped here forever."

"Released wouldn’t be the same as killed would it?"

"Yes it would," Seth replied.

From the side Ramsey stepped in and interrupted saying, "What happened to my men. The one’s who didn’t make it to base camp?"

Seth looked to him and said, "They have been baptized, as you will be soon."

"Why us?" Tony asked.

"One among you is the son of man."

"The son of man?" Ramsey asked. "That is the second time I have heard that one."

"I see now," Tony said. "If you manage to trap the Messiah in Hell, he would be unable to judge the living and the dead. Satan would in effect stop the Second Coming of Christ."

"You are correct," Seth replied.

"Which one of us is the Christ?" Tony asked.

"It is you," Seth replied.

Tony became flush and he swallowed hard. "Me?" Tony asked remembering what Brinkman had said about his DNA and the blood on the crown of thorns. It started to come together in his mind.

"What are those flying monsters that keep attacking us?" Ramsey asked.

"If you are familiar with your bible commander, you will remember that one third of the angels were swept from heaven when the Morning Star was banished."

"They are fallen angels? Why don’t you look like them?" Ramsey asked.

" I am not an angel. I have given myself willingly to my Lord. I was once human like yourself commander."

Chapter 25

The gunner set his machine gun to shoot in three shot bursts to try to conserve ammunition. With a flick of a lever, the gun went from full automatic to semi-automatic.

The ATV bounced along the uneven ground parallel to the city boundary, two miles away. Without warning, they burst out of the tall grass onto a dirt road, then back into the tall grass on the other side.

"Turn around!" Adams yelled to the driver. "Get on that road and head towards the city!"

The ATV made a wide arch in the grass and turned back to the road. Once they found the dirt path they pressed through the gears attaining 80 mph. The road was smoother and the men were able to fire with more precision at the flying creatures attacking them. Behind the ATV, a trail of dust kicked up alerting all to their location.

With the wind in his hair, Adams turned to his gunner and looked back. Seeing one of the creature’s swooping down at them from behind he yelled, "Look out!" to his gunner. Spinning on his turret, the gunner pulled the trigger and three shots fired out of his gun in rapid succession. He pulled the trigger again, and three more shots burst forth striking the creature, sending it rolling to a stop in a cloud of dust.

Adams turned again to face forward watching, as the city became larger in his view. "Get ready!" he yelled. "Take out as many as you can!"

In the distance, they could see that a crowd of humans blocked the entrance to the city. The closer they got, the more the crowd parted until they cleared a path through the main gate.

Shifting down, the ATV slowed to 40 mph as it passed through the crowd and drove into the city. Slamming on the breaks, the ATV skidded to a halt kicking up a plume of dust that drifted in the breeze.

"Fire!" Adams yelled and all five men shot into the mass of people surrounding the ATV at random. Easton jumped onto the hood and fired his machine gun from his hip spraying the crowd as he spun in a wide arch. Blood,