The Apocalypse

With my mind racing, I slowly began to drift off into a vivid peaceful dream. I dreamt of sitting on a beach with glittering, white sand reflecting the sunlight watching a gaggle of swans diving for aquatic plants in the crystal clear lake. The water was the color of turquoise, with the waves gently lapping onto the shore. Wildflowers bloomed with their sweet scent lingering in the air blowing back and forth, swaying in the warm summer breeze.

Songbirds drifted in the wind currents singing their mating calls dancing in the sky carefree. My little brother Jimmy skipped on the beach full of energy laughing beside my father while Hunter, our golden retriever, ran behind them with a stick in his mouth. Then, all of a sudden, the dream began to mysteriously change when a glowing woman swayed down the beach coming our way.

Approaching my family, the lady began to rise from the ground like an angel. Hovering with a melancholy look upon her face, she took off a heart-shaped locket from around her neck. Glancing down, she opened the necklace. “Behold, your future,” she commanded as the jewelry rose from her hand and hung in the air. Spinning faster and faster in a circular motion turning until a radiating white light shot up to the heavens blinding us.

When our sight returned, the locket transported us into a nightmarish situation as unseen bystanders standing in the middle of a zoo. Caterwauling, we watched in horror a tornado land, ripping through the center of the establishment. Twirling with such a force, we could barely stay on our feet. The whirlwind rained debris all around while my father shielded us from particles falling from the sky. Lighting flew from the eye of the twister, disintegrating the cell doors.

Snarling with rage from being held captive, wild beasts emerged prowling, seeking out their jailers with their heads hanging low. Their optics smoldered while saliva dripped from their jaws anticipating their first hunt. Then, with a vengeance, the savages lunge on their prey, tearing their victim’s extremities from their body. After wiping out the zookeepers, they shook their heads violently in triumph—running with limbs still dangling from their mouths. Jimmy and I began to vomit, witnessing the man-eaters fight over the remains of their kill.

The smell of blood lingered in the air with a sweet sickly copper smell that clung to my nostrils. I purged the remaining contents in my stomach, feeling weak and helpless, watching in disbelief. After the wildlife completed their revenge, they wandered to the city limits leaving a trail of carnage behind heading for a place they only knew. Suddenly the sky turns from day into night as a rumbling sound radiated deep within the earth’s core. Vibrations raddled the surrounding building blowing out the window’s glass. I watched in shock when a massive crack snaked out towards us.

Hellfire exploded from the breach rising high above our heads, sending Lucifer and a sea of demons in every direction. The devil walked with his hands stretched out as flames blazed from his fingertips. Setting everything on fire in his wake man and women screamed, running for their lives. Tripping over their feet while trying to get away from being burnt alive, their skin dissolved as they evaporated. Poisonous fumes seeped up from the crevices, choking the oxygen out of the air making it hard to breathe.

We need to get out of here,” my father cried, noticing archangels descending to the earth. The messengers of God landed with a sonic boom conducting a sound wave that catapulted cars airborne before detonating with a cataclysmic explosion in midair. Airplanes fell from the sky, crashing to the ground, exploding on impact all around us. We ran, choking, trying to catch our breath from the surrounding smoke caused by the burning vehicles.

Meanwhile, angels began marching towards us with swords slashing anything that got in their way. “Wake up,” I screamed to myself, falling to my knees while covering my eyes. “Please let me wake from this nightmare,” I pleaded, rocking back and forth, unable to shake myself out of the night terror. "Get up," Dad begged while grabbing my arm, dragging me to my feet. Simultaneously the seraphs spoke, “You’re not having a nightmare, my dear. Your dream is genuine; what you see will come to pass.”

A hundred angelic voices rang in my ears. Crying from unbearable pain, I clutched my hands over my head, trying to block out the sound. “We’ve interrupted your dream to warn you that the apocalypse has begun,” revealed the angels concurrently as they stopped before us. “Don’t hurt my children,” hollered my father while he shuffled us behind his back, trying to protect us from their wrath. Archangel Micheal stepped out from the center of the group and wrapped his arms around us.

Once again, the vision changes, as he pointed out at a post-apocalyptic barren land ruled by the antichrist. “Witness the aftermath of the destruction of the world,” bellowed Micheal. Fear quivered in my father’s voice as he murmured, “This can’t be happening,” observing demons gliding above us guarding a structure in a blackened sky. In the distance, the devil’s minions patrolled a looming fortress surrounded by craters that bubbled with toxic sludge.

Steam hissed and turned inside the cavities spraying a reddish mist, causing a hellish glow. Fog covered the demolished dwellings destroyed by the war. We saw refugees hiding inside the abandoned homes from a fate worst than death. Due to no food or water, the survivors roamed the land as living skeletons. The exile’s eyes receded into their orbits, and their cheeks hollowed inward. Bones protruded through their skin, leaving it hanging loosely from their bodies from starvation.

Dehydration made their lips dry and split. Their tongues were swollen without water, becoming dried and cracked, making it hard for them to swallow. We watched many of them drop dead where they stood. Their demise left rotting corpses riddling the land with the smell of decay purifying the air. The doomed lived in constant fear as gargoyles swooped down between the abandoned houses.

Searching the hellion’s eyes darted back and forth, surveying the landscape for the remaining survivors. One of them, with an eerie shriek, landed on a crumpled building, sending rubble down on a pack of hellhounds towing six chained human helots towards the fortress. Two trolls lead in the front while another followed behind, whipping the captives with a firey cat-o-nine. Every few seconds, the slave-driver would rise the multi-tailed flail over his head.

Then the tyrant brought down the whip with a snap striking his prisoner’s backs causing oozing bloody welts on their skin. An aging hostage's legs buckled, causing him to fall. Unable to get up, the hounds dragged him across the drought-ridden terrain. The gentlemen chained next to him scooped up the injured fellow in fear of the consequences. Looking down the street, the patriarch gasped. Up ahead, outcasts hung on crucifixes baking in the heat.

He began to fight, trying to escape seeing six more crosses lying on the ground. Coming to a stopped in front of them, the hell hounds became agitated. Howling, they snapped at each other, waiting for their masters to untie the convicts. We whimpered in fright as two of the mythical creatures seized the elder and threw him down on one of the wooden roods. At the same time, the third beast took out three stakes from his pants pockets. I had to turn my head when he hammered them through the senior’s hands and feet.

When the trolls finished their task, they raised the crucified man in the air with a pulley. Feeling helpless, the victim looked down towards Micheal as “Help” escaped his lips. Panicking, thinking he could see us, my brother began wailing. Shaking, Jimmy hid his face in my father’s chest, sobbing uncontrollably. Becoming angry, Dad shook his fist towards the archangel. Why are you showing us this if we’re all going to die?” my father demanded while he comforted my brother.

Micheal, with compassion forming across his angelic features, replied, “You’re not going to die. You are three of the chosen few.” Then my father looked up at the celestial being with hope in his eyes.“Where will we go?” he asked the messenger. "Follow the animals; they know the way,” proclaimed Micheal, as the dream began to fade. “Leave before the sun rises, or be damned,” lingered in his angelic voice as I jolted up.

Frantically leaping out of bed, I started throwing clothes in an overnight bag. Then it dawns on me we needed toiletries, so I sprinted to the bathroom and kicked open the door. Jimmy was already in there, chucking toilet paper into a duffel bag. “Daddy and I had a terrible nightmare, and we’re all leaving in five minutes,” he declared, looking up with tears streaming down his face. “Hurry up,” I barked, tossing soap, toothpaste, and shampoo in my bag.

“Got everything?” I asked Jimmy. Nodding his head yes, we hustled down the stairs heading to the van. Hunter was already in the front seat whining while our father was throwing supplies in the vehicle,“ Jump in. We gotta go now,” he announced. Grabbing our luggage, Dad hurled them into the trunk and slammed it shut as we shuffled into the back seat. Then he ran to the diver’s side, stressing, “Buckle up. ”

Climbing behind the wheel, my father punched the gas, squealing the tires, high-tailing it out of town. When we hit the outskirts, he floored the pedal, speeding down the highway. Hearing Micheal’s final words ringing in our minds, Jimmy and I hysterically screeched, “ Daddy, go, go, go.” Looking out the rearview window, we saw every wild species from the forest surround the vehicle running while thousands of birds fluttered above us in the sky.

Stampeding, the animals raced beside the van creating a thunderous pandemonium outside, thumbing the ground traveling north. Watching in amazement, Jimmy pointed out the window, screaming, “Follow them, Daddy,” noticing the wild beasts veering right down an old dirt road. Cursing under his breath, he looked backward, shouting, “Hold on.” Then, trying to make the turn, he cranked the wheel, skidding sideways across the pavement, fishtailing the rear end.

“Is everyone o.k back there?” he asked with a sigh of relief after gaining control of the vehicle. Cruising down the country lane, we followed the forest dwellers for over three hours. “Daddy, it’s 4:30 am,” I informed him, becoming concerned we weren’t going to make it on time. “Look, sweety, I think they’re heading over there,” he exclaimed, signaling towards a mountain. Trailing a pack of wolves, we flew over the rocky pass leading into the treeline.

Once we hit the mountain range, an invisible veil surrounded the whole mountain locking us in from the outside world. The wildlife's chest heaved from exertion, causing the beasts to fall to the ground exhausted. Getting out of the car, we could hear the screams of the condemned. When the sun began to rise, we stood there watching with the other chosen few, side by side with the animal kingdom. After the sun rose in the east, we turned and wandered into the hills, thankful we had survived, knowing Armageddon had begun.