Pt Three-Two

2

Jake Locke awakened from his dream and opened his eyes looking up at the ceiling of his bedroom. He had dreamt of a peaceful place somewhere not of this world. It had been a meadow of some kind that had yet to be touched by the corruption of man. There had been various different kinds of animals in his dream. Deer, squirrels and birds of various different origins had been gathering around him and then suddenly it all went wrong. All the animals scurried away as if frightened by something. Jake had yelled for them to come back at the top of his lungs but it was in vain for they continued to scatter. Suddenly a great darkness appeared over the horizon and began to spread towards him. He could see all types of things in the darkness. There was war, death and famine among others things and they were heading directly towards him. He had screamed at the top of lungs and then it had ended and now he was here back in his room at three in the morning alone to ponder on what he had dreamt.

Jake sat up in the bed and turned putting his feet onto the ground. He was wide awake there was no way he was going to be going back to sleep tonight he knew it. Jake looked at the bible that was sitting on his bedside grabbed it and opened it. He looked down at where the bible had opened and immediately felt some sense of déjà vu as he began to read.

“I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals,” he read aloud as he liked to do when he was alone. “Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword….” He continued to read from Revelation chapter 6 and when he got to verse 8 and read it he had to pause and then read it again.

“I looked and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by the sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.”*

Jake closed the bible and placed it back on the bedside table awestruck by what he just read. It was almost dead on from what he had seen in the darkness in his dream. Had he just seen a vision of the future? Was this time that Revelation spoke of close at hand? These and many more questions were going through his head as he got up out of bed and exited his bedroom and entered the living room of his one bedroom apartment. He was heading towards the kitchen when he stopped in his tracks as he felt a gust of wind blow against his face. He looked and saw that the front door was open wide, the night wind blowing freely into the apartment.

Jake opened the closet door in the hallway and withdrew the authentic Louisville slugger from its hiding place. He had played some baseball when he was in high school and he still played softball in a church league every summer. He had been known to hit one out of the park every now and then so he felt he could handle himself if a burglar had found its way into his little piece of security. Suddenly, he thought he saw something moving towards the kitchen.

“Hey,” Jake raised his voice, “You need to get out of here before I call the cops.” He reached for the light switch and flipped it up to the on position but was disappointed when no light came on. The wind must have messed up a power line or something. The shape in the darkness was walking towards him and Jake looked towards the door and there was a shape of another intruder standing in the doorway. So there were two of them. There was no way that he could reach his cell phone in time it was in his bedroom on his bedside table. He didn’t have time to think for the intruder in the kitchen suddenly came at him arms outstretched. Jakes instincts took control he swung out with the bat at the person’s ribs with such force that it sent them tumbling back into the kitchen.

He shouldn’t be getting up after that; a couple of his ribs would be broken. The person in the doorway began to come towards Jake as well a sort of growl was coming from their mouth. Junkies, Jake thought to himself. That was a possibility even in this small town they had their share of meth heads. A meth lab had been busted just last week at an apartment complex on the other side of town. The person lunged at him obviously trying to grab him so Jake swung for his knee caps which he heard crack as the bat flew into them, his aim dead on. And then that’s when things got weird.

The person should have dropped and not moved, in pain because their kneecaps were shattered. He should have been screaming, but not a sound escaped from their lips besides the hungry growl. They had dropped to their knees and were still making their way towards him that’s when he sensed something from behind him. The other person was crawling on the floor and had him by the leg and it looked like he was going to try and bite him, Jake pulled his leg away from him just barely before he brought his teeth down, turned around and headed back towards his room quickly shutting the door behind him and turning the lock.

He went to the bedside table and grabbed his cell phone. He punched in the numbers for 911 and waited as the phone rang, rang, and rang some more with no reply at the other end. What the heck was going on? He then punched in the number for the sheriff hoping that maybe the phones were still working. He was greeted with the voice saying your call cannot be completed at this time. Something was going on. He jumped as a pound on his door pulled him from his thoughts. They were trying to get in, pounding and moaning in the process. Suddenly, he thought of something.

Jake had watched many zombie movies. He loved watching stories about humanity against all odds on the brink of extinction. Thinking of the two people outside his door he started to ponder on the symptoms that the zombies showed. Moaning, growling and trying to bite people were definitely signs that zombies in the stories usually showed. But they were only stories right? They were also showing no sign of stopping even though one of them no longer had kneecaps. There was only one way to kill a zombie and that was a blow to the head. Well there was one way to find out for sure.

“Please God,” Jake whispered. “If I am wrong please forgive me.”

Jake gripped the bat firm and walked towards his bedroom door. He turned the knob opening it quickly. The one with shattered kneecaps was standing up, showing no signs of pain and immediately came towards him. Jake swung out with all his force aiming for the head, the bat flew true hitting the zombies temple, the skull crushing from the impact, the second target was right behind the other preparing to jump at Jake. Jake waited until the creature launched itself at him, took a hitting stance and swung the bat in an arc not unlike that of a golf swing, striking it in the chin and sending it flying through the hall back into the living room. Jake turned to the first zombie and brought the bat down on its skull a second time just to make sure it would not be getting back up. He then went into the living room where the second zombie was still moving trying to get back to its feet. Jake hurried over to it with the baseball bat raised over his head and brought it down on the creature’s skull with all his strength, the bat making an indent in the zombie’s forehead as it fell to the ground. Jake stood over it and swung down on the head a second time on this one as well just to ensure it was dead.

Jake stood in the living room winded slightly from all the activity. He walked over to the apartment door that stood wide open, closed it and then pondered about what to do next. Now there was definitely no way he was going to be going back to sleep anytime soon. He had no idea what he should do; there was only one place that he knew he would feel safe at. His church which was less than a mile away was somewhere that he could feel sanctuary. He started to think about everyone else who he knew in town and wondered if he should check on them and make sure they were all right. The truth was Jake knew a lot of people and to go around and check on all them would take a long time and would also increase the chance of him getting killed by one of those things out there. Because, if these things were here now then there was definitely more out there waiting for their next meal.

Jake went back into his room and grabbed a back pack out of his closet and began to put various different things inside that he would need. Bible, shampoo, toothbrush and deodorant were among the many things that he chose to pack. He sat down on his bed and looked at his cell phone at the time that glared out at him in bold black digital numbers. He would be crazy to start heading out now in the dark. He would head out first thing in the morning when there was enough light to see what was coming at him. He sat there in his bed grasping the bat in one hand and the backpack in the other waiting for the morning to come and then the first phase of his new life would begin and Jake Locke would never be the same.

*Scriptures taken from Fire Bible Student Edition (NIV) Revelation 6:1-8