The Revelation Chronicles

  How original.

  “Hello, Charlie, said the older gentleman. “My name is Robert Keller. I am extremely sorry for the theatrics we had to stage in order to get you here, but I knew you wouldn’t believe us if we simply tried to approach you out of the blue.” He had deep-green eyes with wide nostrils and excessive cowlicks on both sides of his head. He also had broad shoulders that told me he was in great shape and not a man to be taken lightly.

  “And this was your bright idea of saying hello?” I countered.

  “I do apologize, but, you are in grave danger. Everyone you ever knew or cared for is also in grave danger. Everything you know or thought you knew is about to change.”

  I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I chose to listen instead.

  “You are not from this world, Charlie Reese. You are a descendant of a very proud race of beings from the planet Etheus.”

  I laughed and looked around the room for a hidden camera. Certainly I was being pranked. This had to be a joke, or this guy was definitely off his rocker.

  “This is no laughing matter,” he replied irritably. “A war is coming, and you will be at its front and center.”

  He paused before continuing.

  “The planet Etheus had been at war for years. There were two factions: the Alarians and the Chirac. The Chirac built a powerful weapon called the Orion device they hoped would give them a decisive edge in the war. Instead, the device inadvertently began to destroy the planet from its very core. The Elders searched for a solution, but in the end, the only thing left to do was evacuate as many as possible. The search was on to find a planet habitable for our race. Earth was eventually chosen for its many similarities to Etheus, and plans were made. It is unknown how many ships were able to escape the destruction. Most of our people have lived peacefully in secret for years amongst the human race. It was originally believed that Vicktor, the leader of the Chirac, did not survive the exodus of the planet. But, with the sudden emergence of several others, we now have positive intelligence that he is very much alive. And, as he tried on our home planet, he is making plans to rebuild the Orion device and take over Earth. He must be stopped before Earth is destroyed as well.”

  Chapter 14

  “Let’s pretend for a moment that I believe even one word of what you’re saying, and I don’t. What does this have to do with me?” I asked.

  This was all just a little too farfetched to believe. I mean, an alien? If my neck wasn’t still stinging from earlier, I would have been convinced that this was all some horrible nightmare, and I would wake up any minute.

  “You are the key, Charlie, whether you know it or not. It was foretold many years ago that a child would be born who would one day hold the fate of the world in his hands. You are that child.”

  “You stand here and expect me to believe this? Untie me and my friends and let us go. I’ve heard just about enough of this nonsense!”

  “Well, Charlie,” Robert said with a casual smile, removing a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping his brow. “If you want out of those bonds so badly, do it yourself.”

  “Screw you!” I screamed at him. I wanted so badly to get up out of the chair and wipe the smug look off of his face. My chest heaved up and down, and I became more infuriated by the minute. None of this made any sense to me.

  “Or…perhaps you just need to be properly motivated. Jason, please help Charlie find his motivation.”

  Snake Tattoo stepped forward, reached into his waist jacket, and removed a nickel-plated revolver. Aiming it directly at my temple, he slowly pulled the trigger back.

  “Wait! Wait! What are you doing?” I yelled. I struggled furiously against the ropes that bound me, but it was no use. Then, everything seemed to move in slow motion. I closed my eyes and visualized the weapon trained on me as well as the ropes securely fastened to my hands and feet. I could sense, almost feel the trigger as it inched back, further and further. I felt a forceful yet relaxing pulse reverberate throughout my body. Its warm, calming aura surrounded me, removing everything else. All my fears, my past failures, the sense of helplessness I often felt were all replaced by this amazing feeling.

  A feeling of power.

  And it felt great.

  The ropes began to gradually loosen and fell to the floor. The magazine dropped from the revolver; the round loaded in the chamber popped out of the ejection port and flew across the room, landing harmlessly against a rusted tool box on the concrete floor. I stood and faced the tattooed man before me, his expression a satisfying mixture of shock and awe.

  “Very good, Charlie!” I knew you had it in you, lad!” Robert proclaimed, clasping his hands together.

  “Wh…what just happened?” asked a groggy Freddy. He looked around him, from the unarmed and bewildered gunman, to Allison still tied and unconscious, to an ecstatic and thrilled Robert, and finally, to me.

  “Somebody had better start explaining why I’m currently tied up and being detained against my will. Hey, you with the bad haircut. What’s the meaning of this?” He directed the question to Robert, who only frowned and ignored him.

  “We have to move fast, Charlie. If you prefer, we can place your friends in a safe house for now until things blow over, but time is of the essence.”

  “Are you serious?” I asked. I was appalled at his words. “Do you honestly think I’m going anywhere with you? You just had a man point a gun to my head and pull the trigger. Not exactly what I would call extending an olive branch.”

  “And you disarmed him with ease, did you not?” Robert reasoned. “I just wanted you to experience the power within you, Charlie. I am sorry I didn’t have time to try more conventional methods. I will tell you everything, but we must go now.”

  “What power?” Freddy asked. “Charlie, what’s this clown talking about?”

  Before I could even attempt a response, a deafening explosion rocked the warehouse, shattering the windows and sending shards of debris in all directions.

  Chapter 15

  Stars clouded my vision as I struggled to my feet. My head felt like it weighed a hundred pounds, and my ears rung incessantly from the severe impact of the blast. Freddy and Allison each remained tied to their chair, but they had tipped over and were now lying stranded on the cold floor. The blast must have also served as a fresh douse of water to the face for Allison, because she finally stirred and began to look around, her eyes stretched wide in fear, eyes that had never witnessed or experienced total immobilization before. Panic slowly crept over her usually tranquil demeanor like a dark cloud with a ninety percent chance of precipitation.

  “Here, cut them loose,” Robert said. He tossed me a knife and removed the handgun from his ankle holster in one fluid motion. One of his men was still lying prone on the floor, and by the awful way in which his body was contorted, it was clear he wouldn’t be making the return trip to Planet Crazy with the rest of his friends.

  “The Chirac are here. All the exits are covered,” Jason said in a worried tone. He peered cautiously out a broken window near the front of the warehouse. “All our men outside have been taken out. How could they have known where we are?”

  “There’s no time to discuss,” Robert asserted. “We need to find a way out of here. Now.”

  I hurried over and eventually managed to cut through the ropes binding Freddy and Allison. I didn’t have much experience with a knife and didn’t particularly care for them either, so it took me a minute. It seemed the quickest way, considering I didn’t know how to summon my newfound ability at will, at least not yet. And to be honest, I had no idea if it even worked that way. This was all uncharted territory for me.

  “What on earth is going on?” Freddy asked, assisting Allison to her feet.

  “That’s a relative question,” I replied. “I wish I knew.”

  “Comforting,” he remarked, ever the cynic. He rubbed a hand across his forehead as if he was trying to soothe a painful headache.

  “Where are we?” Allison asked. Her leg
s were a bit shaky and stiff from inactivity.

  “In a warehouse of some kind. Just try to stay calm, and I’ll explain as much as I can to you shortly,” I said, trying to sound reassuring. It wasn’t very effective though, I surmised by the dissatisfied look on her face. And, to be quite honest, I could have used some comforting myself.

  “Well, this is definitely not the way I envisioned spending my afternoon,” Freddy offered, trying to lighten the mood.

  The mood, however, changed from bad to worse as a low, but steady humming sound could be heard just outside the warehouse.

  “Quick! Everyone find someplace to hide!” Jason shouted and ducked behind a stack of old, worn tires and welding equipment.

  Freddy and I shot each other a questioning glance, but we didn’t argue, following Jason’s lead and scrambling to find our own place to hide in the spacious warehouse. Robert and Allison quickly followed suit.

  The humming grew louder and louder.

  “What is that noise?” Freddy whispered to Jason.

  “Search and destroy drones. The Chirac call them Scanners. They focus on movement and body heat. Be perfectly still if you want to get out of here alive!”

  “I really don’t like that guy,” Freddy whispered, burrowing further between two large pieces of old, rusted machinery.

  Two mechanical spheres suddenly flew through the broken warehouse windows. They were unlike anything I had ever laid eyes on before. Constructed from a sleek metal alloy I was hardly qualified to define, the spheres were both smooth and flawless in their intricate design. These were no remote controlled aircraft at the local mall being flown annoyingly over shoppers’ heads by some derelict high school dropout. The Scanners floated effortlessly around the room as though they were suspended by hidden cables or wires. My heart began to beat at an uncontrollable rate, and I was deathly certain the Scanners would hear it. I’ve never been one to freak out prematurely, but this was definitely some otherworldly stuff we were faced with.

  Chapter 16

  The Scanners moved across the warehouse floor methodically, in what appeared to be a grid-like pattern. The humming noise that had been so prominent moments before must have been a sort of start-up sequence; they were barely audible now that they were inside, moving stealthily from one area to the next. Bright red penetrating light, like dozens of tiny laser pointers tied together, swept back and forth from the spheres in a concentrated effort.

  Then unexpectedly, a faint blur appeared to my right as a big black rat scampered across the warehouse floor, probably startled by our earlier attempt to hide. One of the Scanners picked up on the subtle movement instantly, and in a flash, it zoomed to the rodent’s location, hovering quietly above. A small rectangular compartment on the surface of the sphere opened and emitted a short, but powerful burst of red energy, instantly incinerating the rat. All that remained of the poor rodent was a few charred hair particles that floated silently to the warehouse floor like idle leaves stirred by a random gust of autumn wind.

  I stifled a gasp and retreated further into the hiding spot I’d chosen, pondering the notion that it wasn’t quite sufficient enough.

  How was all this happening? Extraterrestrial beings and flying saucers? What did I do to deserve this?

  It was all too much to comprehend. I made myself a promise that this Robert character would definitely have some explaining to do if we ever made it out of the warehouse alive.

  The two Scanners continued to sweep the warehouse, periodically pausing a brief moment before moving on. All of a sudden, one of the spheres stopped directly in front of where Freddy and Allison were hiding. The mechanical entity began to sway steadily side to side in a rocking motion, the red lights probing the piles of scrap metal intensely. Then, it stopped. The same compartment opened that had earlier spelled doom for the rat. My mind was a ball of nerves as I watched in horror from my hiding spot.

  What could I do? I couldn’t just sit there and watch my friends become toast. I tried to focus on the sphere just as I had earlier with the handgun, but nothing happened. To my relief, several rounds were fired simultaneously at the sphere, penetrating the once flawless exterior and sending it crashing to the floor.

  “Quick! This way!” Robert shouted as he hastily reloaded his handgun.

  I scrambled from my hiding place and ran as fast as I could. I didn’t dare look back. The remaining Scanner immediately retaliated; it quickly spun around and sent repeated blasts in our direction, destroying everything the red beams of energy contacted. It was a war zone. Jason, a few paces in front of me, wheeled and began to return fire. The sphere reeled away from the path of the oncoming bullets, dodging them easily, and delivered an unrelenting barrage of its own in rapid succession.

  One of the blasts struck an abandoned vehicle just as Allison ran by. The resulting explosion knocked her violently to the ground. She grimaced in obvious pain.

  “Allison! Are you okay?” I asked, hurrying to her side. She nodded, but as she held her ankle gingerly, it was clear running was now out of the question. The Scanner moved closer to us. Somehow, I knew instinctively what I had to do. I would only have one shot at this.

  I quickly rose to my feet, standing between Allison and the fast approaching sphere. Extending my right palm outward and away from my body, I felt an instant surge of raw power emanate from somewhere deep inside me to the very tips of my fingers. The sphere stuttered, and then stopped mid-flight, spinning uncontrollably. I envisioned it crumbling as if it were a piece of paper between my fingers, as what I imagined with my mind slowly began to manifest before me. The Scanner’s outer hull began to slowly creak and collapse; its metal alloy folded over upon itself again and again, until finally, it exploded into a fiery ball of flame.

  I turned and helped Allison to her feet. To my chagrin, she had no clue what I’d done. She’d been too busy nursing her ankle.

  “Can you walk?”

  “I’ll manage. It’s a little stiff, but it’s OK.”

  We made our way over to where the others had now gathered near the back of the warehouse. Robert opened a large metal grate in the floor and climbed inside, motioning for us to follow.

  “We need to leave here quickly. That was only an attempt to test our strength before they breach. The next wave won’t be quite as relenting.”

  “You call that relenting?” Freddy asked. “Are you on any meds? Because, you probably should be.”

  Once each of us entered through the grate and were safely in the sewer below, Jason replaced the cover and reached into his pack, removing a small device. He carefully placed it on the underside of the grate, punched in a numerical code, and carefully removed a small pin in the side. Then, he reached into the pack once more, producing a map and a flashlight. The guy was a regular 007 prototype, I marveled.

  “This way,” he said as he took the lead down the dark passageway.

  After traveling only a few hundred feet, a powerful explosion from behind us shook the walls. We continued on through the sewer toward safety, with our escape route hopefully secured.

  Chapter 17

  After walking in silence for several minutes, Jason finally spoke.

  “We are about eight blocks from a safe house we use on occasion.”

  “No, we can’t go there. We have to assume it’s been compromised,” Robert said. “Let’s head for our alternate location.”

  “Um, excuse me,” Freddy chimed in. “Does anyone want to address the elephant in the room?”

  “There is no time to go into detail with you. We must make haste,” Robert responded.

  “I’m pretty sure we can MAKE time for someone to explain to me why I woke up tied to a chair, and why flying saucers were just trying to make roasted duck out of my black butt!”

  I subdued my laughter under my breath as we trudged on through dank sewer water up to the ankles. The water was freezing, and I didn’t even want to think what was potentially in it. The walls were coated in a thick green slime-like substance.
I then had a thought. Maybe if we were lucky, we would run into a group of giant crime-fighting turtles who could help us out. At the rate my day was going, I wasn’t ruling anything out.

  “As Jason mentioned earlier,” Robert began, sounding a bit impatient, “those machines were Scanners. They are designed to pick up body heat as well as motion and can be programmed for either search and recovery or search and destroy.”

  “Well, from the looks of that rat, it’s pretty clear what their intentions were,” said Freddy.

  “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”

  “You suppose?” Freddy questioned, frustration starting to set in. “Look, I was enjoying myself in my nice, dry dorm room watching ESPN before you jack-assess kidnapped me.” He paused and looked around him. “Now, I’m getting shot at by little flying contraptions I can’t even begin to comprehend! So a little less cavalier attitude would be much appreciated. It’s not every day most normal people have a close encounter with E.T.”

  “Mr. Carter,” Robert said rather crisply. “If I do recall, the letter we left was NOT addressed to you, so I really don’t know why you are here. You may take your leave whenever you please. No one will stop you.”

  “What? And leave Charlie and Allison with you morons? I think not.” Freddy laughed and clutched his ribs for effect. “It’s apparent this little expedition is under very poor leadership. For my friends’ sake, I think I’ll stick around and make sure they get out of here in one piece.”

  “Fine, suit yourself. Just don’t get in our way,” Jason growled.

  “Fine.”

  I walked beside Allison as she limped along, her arm slung over my shoulder; my arm was firmly around her waist for added support. God, even in the sewer, she still smelled great.

  “How are you doing?”

  She looked up at me with her soft brown eyes.

  “I’m okay. My ankle’s a little stiff, but I don’t think it’s broken or anything. Probably just a light sprain.”

  I sighed in relief.

  “That’s good to hear. Hopefully we won’t have to do any more running.”

  “I sincerely hope not,” she said with a warm smile.