Left Behind Series - The Remnant Part 57

Mac gave him an index finger salute, a.n.a.l the people began showing up, already looking exhausted.

It took only a few minutes for the crowd to gather, and it appeared that an otherwise normal looking guy, whom Mac thought looked like a younger version of Leon Fortunato, grabbed the microphone. He wore white shoes, white slacks, a white s.h.i.+rt, and sounded like a motivational speaker, all peppy and crisp. He said he was the whole show announcer, performer, everything.

"But I'm not typical. No, folks. People have called me a type of Christ. Well, you be the judge. All I can tell you is that I am not from here. That was not a joke. I am not even from this world. There's no music today, no dancing girls, just me, a wonder worker. I come under the authority of the risen lord, Nicolae Carpathia, and I have been imbued with power from him.

"If you are skeptical, let me ask you to look at the sky. I know the sun is still high and hot and bright, but would you agree with me that there are no clouds? None. Not one. Anyone see one anywhere? On the distant horizon? Forming somewhere in the great beyond? Shade your eyes, that's all right. But do me the favor of removing your sungla.s.ses, those of you who have them. You're squinting, and that's all right. Some of you are frowning, but you won't be in a moment.

"Would you like a nice cloud? Something to block the sun for just an instant? I can provide one. You're skeptical, I can tell.

Don't look at me; you'll miss it. You'll think it was a trick.

But what do you call that?"

A shadow fell over the crowd. Even the GC gawked at the sky.

Abdullah leaned over. Albie bent forward. Mac turned his body between them and looked up. A thick, white cloud blotted out the sun. The people oohed and aahed.

"How does he do that?" Abdullah said.

"He already told you," Mac said. "Power from Nicolae."

"Too quick?" the miracle worker said. "Did the sudden change in temperature chill you, even out here in the desert? Maybe that's enough shade for the moment, hmm ? " The cloud disappeared. It didn't move, fade, or dissipate. It was there, and then it was gone.

"How about half shade, but still enough of the sun coming through to keep you warm?" It was instantaneous.

A woman near the stage dropped to her knees and began wors.h.i.+ping the man.

"Oh, ma'am, thank you ever so kindly. But what is the cliche ?

You have seen nothing yet. How about this microphone stand? A solid steel base, long two piece shaft, separate microphone and cord, attached at the top. Anyone want to come up and prove it is what I say it is?"

An older man limped up the steps to the platform. He felt the mike and stand and then rapped on the upper shaft, causing thudding noises through the sound system. "Oops, look at that!"

Miracle Man said. And the mike stand and mike had been replaced by a snake that led from his hand all the way to the transformer box.

The people recoiled and some cried out, but as quickly as it had appeared, the snake disappeared and the mike and stand were as before.

"Magic tricks? You know better. Had trouble getting enough water lately? Or shall we believe the stories coming from inside Petra?

Think a spring in there was an act of G.o.d? Then what does that make me?"

He pointed into the middle of the crowd, and a spring gushed from the ground, splas.h.i.+ng over their heads. "Cool, crisp, and refres.h.i.+ng, no?" he said. "Enjoy! Go ahead!" And they did. "Hungry? Tired of the fare in your new home? How about a basket of real bread, warm and chewy and more than enough for all?"

He reached behind him and brought out a wicker basket with a linen napkin in it. Five popover sized chunks of bread, warm and golden brown, were piled in it. "Start that around. Here you go. Sure, take one. No, a whole one! Take two if you'd like. There's more where that came from."

The basket pa.s.sed from hand to hand and everyone took at least one piece, several two, and yet the basket was never depleted.

"Who am I? Who do you say that I am? I am a disciple of the living lord, Potentate Carpathia. Have I persuaded you that he is all powerful? His patience has run out with you people, however.

He would like me to administer the mark of loyalty to you, which I can do without technology. You don't doubt me anymore, do you?

People shook their heads. "Who will be first? I will do four simultaneously. You, you, you, and you. Ask your friends what they see."

Even Mac could see that they had Carpathia's mark on their foreheads.

"More? Yes, raise your hands. Now those of you who have your hands raised right now, hear me. No, no new ones. Hands down if you did not have them up when I said that. Why have you waited so long? What was the hold up?The one I serve wants me to slay you, and your"re dead." More than a hundred dropped to the desert floor,

causing the rest to shriek and cry out. "Silence! You do not think I could slay the lot of you? If I can slay them, can I not also raise them? These six, right up here, arise ! "

The six stood as if they had just awakened. They looked embarra.s.sed, as if they didn't know why they had been on the ground.

"Think they were merely sleeping? in a trance? All right, they're dead again." They dropped again. "Now if you know them, check their vital signs."

He waited. "No breath, no pulse, correct? Let that be a lesson to those who remain. You see that, in the distance? Yes, there. The little cloud of dust, what appears to be tumbleweed rolling this way? Those are vipers of the deadliest sort. They are coming for you."

Some turned and began to run, but they froze in place.

"No, no. Surely you do not think escape is possible from one who can create a cloud to cover the sun? If you want the mark of loyalty, raise your hand now and receive it."

The rest of the crowd raised their hands, frantic. "But more of you should die before the vipers get here." About three dozen keeled over.

"Why do the vipers keep coming?" a woman cried. "We have all obeyed! We have all taken the mark!"

"The vipers are wise, that is all," he said. "They know who was serious and loyal and who acted only out of fear for their lives." The spring turned to blood, and the people near it backed away.

"Fools!" he said. "You're all fools! Do you think a G.o.d like Nicolae Carpathia wants you as his subjects? No! He wants you dead and away from the clutches of his enemies. You are free to run now, and it is entertaining to me to see you run as fast and as frantically as you can. But let me warn you. You will not outrun the vipers. You will not reach Petra in time to save yourselves. Your bodies will lie bloated and baking in the sun until the birds have their way with your flesh. For as I leave, I take with me the shade I provided."

The people burst from the scene, screaming and staggering madly in the sand toward Petra. The GC guards seemed apoplectic and stared as the vipers changed course to chase down the people. The spring dried up, the cloud disappeared, and dozens of chunks of bread lay in the sand.

Mac looked at Albie and Smitty and they all shook their heads, trembling. Suddenly the wonder worker stood directly in front of the chopper. Though he did not open his mouth, Mac heard him as if he were inside the craft. "I know who you are. I know you by name. Your G.o.d is weak and your faith a sham, and your time is limited. You shall surely die."

Mac had difficulty finding his voice. "Let's go," he croaked, and Abdullah started the engines. The cloud of sand blew up and then away, and as Smitty lifted off, Mac looked down to see nothing but a long stretch of undisturbed sand, dotted only by the dead who had dropped at the site. No GC. No miracle man. No platform. No bread. No vehicles.

What about the snakes? He didn't see them either. But stretched for a quarter mile were the rest of the

people, still and flat and grotesque on the desert floor, limbs splayed.

Tsion was troubled in his spirit by a deep sense of foreboding.

He knew he would not be able to shepherd all the way to the Glorious Appearing every person who

had arrived in Petra. And yet he believed that when they had seen the mighty and miraculous hand of G.o.d, many of the undecided would be persuaded.

Many had been; of that there was no doubt. That was what Chaim and the other elders were saying as Tsion despaired, deep in one of the caves. It was as if the Lord had told him that the rebels would not be returning not any of them. But he didn't know if G.o.d would slay them, as he did in the Korah rebellion in the days of Moses, or whether Antichrist would kill them after luring them into the desert with his great

deception.

He looked up when Naomi hurried in from the technology and communications center and went directly to her father. She stole a glance at Tsion as she whispered in her father's ear, and when Tsion saw the slump of his shoulders and the sad shaking of his head, he knew.

The young woman left, and her father made his way up to Chaim. Tsion leaned over. "Tell us both. I must know of this eventually anyway."

"But, sir," Naomi's father said, "could you not be spared the totality of this until even one day after your triumph over the False Prophet? Why must your rejoicing be tempered?"

"I am not rejoicing, my friend. I was unable to keep the False Prophet from enticing the rebels to go their own way, no matter what I did or said. Tell me the whole of it. Spare me nothing."

"Three of your friends from the Tribulation Force were eyewitnesses and are just now returning. They request a moment with you."