The end of the world draws near, as spoken of by many prophets through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
On such a day, Cassius arose from his sleep in the suburbs of a rural city. Morning had just come, and he could sense the impending doom that awaited most of America.
Now, Cassius was similar in regards to other angels. His task was simple: to slay those not sealed with the seal of the living God.
When he stepped outside his single home, he saw many people left and right scattering to their cars or frantically running across the streets. They were distraught, for America was falling apart. And when these things began to arise, anarchy was spreading fast.
He quickly used his extrasensory vision to see through their homes, only to witness that many had left their televisions on. Such an accursed box that people spent most of their time on. On it, it was saying that the end of the world was happening and that people must quickly evacuate to dedicated safety facilities.
"What a shame," he said to no one in particular.
Then he closed his eyes to consider what he was to do. When he did so, he heard a voice give him explicit instructions mentally. He had a target. Not just any target, but a woman he was tasked to slay.
That's right: Cassius was to help bring about the death of unbelievers.
✟
Inside a poorer home within a neighboring city was a woman named Rachel. She had seen the news and believed that she should flee to where the television told her to go. But Rachel was not alone; she had two boys, ages nine and ten, children she greatly loved.
"Boys, pack up your things quickly! We have to leave!"
"But why, Mommy?" asked the eldest one.
"Just do as I say!"
It wasn't long until she managed to secure her belongings and help pack everything she thought she needed in her modern car with almost a full tank.
Oh, the troubles of being a single mother in this day and age. But Rachel never quite cared about her setbacks. She had her duties as a mother and sought to protect what was hers at all costs.
"Where are we going, Mommy?" asked the youngest.
"Don't worry," she replied. "We're headed somewhere safe."
The boys looked out the window, only to see that other homes and families were doing the same as they were. It frightened them, but their mother reached out to both of them and kissed their foreheads.
"Everything will be alright, okay?"
The moment she pulled out of the driveway, she drove north while putting an address in her phone's GPS. Traffic seemed heavy within the first five minutes into her drive. Yet hardly anyone wanted to abandon their vehicles—not when the end of the world was edging so close to their sanity.
Throughout it all, she managed to maintain her composure quite well. But what she didn't know was that Cassius was sitting right atop her vehicle, unseen.
His arms were crossed, and he remained still as he considered this woman. What he understood was that if he let her drive all the way to the safety zone, it would hinder the progress in completing his task. So he thought of a better way to go about things.
After about ten minutes, from within Rachel's car, the family heard the GPS say, "Recalculating…" Rachel looked down and saw that a new route had opened. "Make a left at the light." It was strange to her at first, but when she noticed that her destination time had greatly decreased, she decided to follow the phone's instructions.
Thirty minutes later, she found herself driving on an empty road with seemingly no other cars around. Where she was at was the countryside. Houses were often spread apart by miles, making the land seem unoccupied.
Believing this to be the right route, she kept on driving.
Another thirty minutes passed before she made a sharp turn into the woods. The road was mostly dirt and trees with hardly any light seeping through the canopies. At least there was still a trail for vehicles to pass through.
"You have reached your destination," the GPS suddenly announced in the middle of the forest.
Rachel looked at her phone with confusion. Around her were just trees. She didn't see any buildings or what was supposed to be a safe haven.
When she put her car in reverse and looked at the backup camera, it suddenly powered down. The look on her face was of pure uncertainty. So she removed the keys from the ignition switch and tried turning the engine on again. There was a cranking noise at first, but the car would still not start.
"What's wrong, Mommy?"
"Nothing, just let Mommy think."
Rachel then looked at the dashboard and noticed that her gas meter was on empty. This confused her even more because she was sure she had at least three quarters in the tank before she left.
Her first instinct was to use her phone to call for help. But when she checked, she had no signal. Things could not have looked more worse.
Unsure of what to do, she got out of the car to check her surroundings. The last gas station she saw was at least a three-mile walk from her location. Thoughts spiraled in her head about what to do in this situation. But before she could come to a conclusion, she heard a voice say, "Rachel, is that you?"
Startled, she turned, only to see a dark-skinned male with curly black hair walking past a tree. The side of his head was lower than the top, and he wore a white buttoned-up shirt that seemed spotless.
It was Cassius.
"Who're you?" she asked.
"Don't you remember me? I'm James. I visited you at your house some time ago."
Now Cassius had transformed his appearance, and Rachel did not know Cassius, but she most certainly recalled a James who had indeed visited her on one occasion.
Some years ago, James, a born again Christian, sought to reconnect with those he had once attended elementary school with fifteen years later. Through simple means, he discovered Rachel's location and paid her a visit with a letter and gifts in hand.
Yet when she opened the door for him, and he saw how dark her home was spiritually, he reconsidered whether he should proceed. But since he was of a pure heart, he sought to help her if she ever asked. So he gave her the gifts, the letter, and his number in case she ever required his aid.
"Ah! Yes! James, I remember!"
"Haha," Cassius laughed. "What in the world are you doing all the way out here?"
Rachel hesitated for a moment before answering, "My car ran out of gas while we trying to get to safety."
"Oh… Ugh. Well, that's unfortunate. I take it you're gonna get things taken care of then?"
"Yeah, yeah… I mean, I'm trying."
One of the boys opened the back seat to call out to his mother. Yet Rachel demanded that he remain inside so she could sort things out.
"I'll let you do your thing," Cassius said, turning around. "Ya know, with the whole end of the world and all."
Rachel's mind suddenly went blank; she was unsure of what James (Cassius) himself was doing all the way out here. And as far as she was concerned, she and James didn't quite know each other on a personal level. She had honestly forgotten much about him, having hardly recalled that they even attended the same school together.
"Wait, can you—" but before she could ask, Cassius's phone rang and she unintentionally overheard his conversation.
"Yeah, there doesn't seem to be any survivors here. I'll move on to the next task shortly."
Immediately, Rachel urged him not to leave. From his supposed phone call, she believed that he was the answer to her current problems. What she didn't know, however, was that there was no one on the other line.
"James," she begged, "ugh... my phone lost signal. Can I use yours?"
"But I thought you had things taken care of?"
"Well, I don't, okay? Can I just use your phone to call someone real quick?"
Cassius let out a slight chuckle. "Rachel… if I recall correctly, the last time we met, you called the cops on me and had me trespassed from your home, did you not?" Rachel's heart sank as she stood there speechless; she had forgotten all about that incident. "Yeah, yeah. That's right. I came to your crib that day, offered peaceful words and even gave you a heartwarming letter. The next night, the cops called me and said you wanted me trespassed."
"I… I…"
"Yeah! And they told me that you were scared for your life or something."
It was evident on Rachel's face that she had somewhat forgotten that event. But after hearing them from Cassius, she remembered fully what happened.
"I was scared!" she began. "I didn't know who you were, and it was weird. I didn't know what to do at that time."
"Wait! Haha! You mean a Christian comes to your doorstep, offers you gifts of sincerity, and you think that's weird? What the heck were you so scared of?"
Rachel's mind went blank again; she didn't know how to answer. She wanted to say that it was because of all the acts of terror she saw on a television. But when Cassius revealed her wickedness, it made her look utterly ridiculous; she was put to shame for having been desensitized to what she believed to be true on modern day television.
"Don't worry, Rachel. What happened in the past was long forgiven. Seriously, I don't hold grudges, and I get it: you had two kids, no husband, and were raised in an environment that simply taught you to hate what's good." Rachel was unsure of things now. She thought of getting back into her car until he said, "Listen, I'll just be on my way to let you handle things yourself, okay?"
"No!" she blurted out. "Please, don't leave. I need your help. I'm sorry for what happened, but I just need your phone to call someone."
Cassius looked elsewhere as if in thought. Then he met her gaze, smiled, and obliged, "Fine, fine. If you want my help that badly."
Rachel, for the first time today, gave a sigh of relief. All her worries were washed away in that instance. "Thank you, oh thank—"
Chew-chew.
Before she could give gratitude, she felt the sudden surge of pain erupt in her hamstrings. And when she slowly looked down, her face paled upon seeing bullet holes in each of her legs. Unable to bear the weight of her body, she then quickly flopped to the forest floor.
Already, Cassius could hear her children in the car crying. He slowly lifted up his white gun near his face. It was etched with golden spirals, and there was ethereal smoke billowing from the silencer.
After blowing once, the smoke cleared, and he asked, "Why so surprised? You asked for my help, didn't you?" Rachel's first instinct was to scream out for help. But the instant she gave that thought, she found herself unable to speak. "Uh-uh-uh… We can't have you yelling just yet."
The next thing Cassius did was walk toward the car. The eldest son quickly locked the door, but when he neared it, it unlocked itself and he opened the door.
"Try not to cry too loud now," he smiled.
Yet the kids still shouted in fear. Displeased, Cassius gripped one of them by the head and yanked him out of the car as if picking out a toy. Rachel watched in horror as his gun transformed into a silver sword before throwing her son in the air and piercing him through the gut. He then yanked the sword out and chopped the child's head off, making Rachel tear uncontrollably.
"You really gotta calm down," Cassius desired as all the blood slipped to the floor. It was as if his aura wouldn't let the blood of man touch him or his weapon, keeping them both clean. "Remember what it said in Isaiah 13:18: 'Their bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children.' Or did you not ever read the holy bible?"
Rachel could neither bear the sight nor fully understand what was happening. Her mind and her heart raced so fast that all her instincts were telling her to crawl to safety.
She began doing just that, but where could she turn to? This was an empty forest with no one else in sight.
The moment she got even a second away, the head of her youngest child plopped right in front of her. She quickly crawled the other way, but already she could hear Cassius's soles crunching against the leaves while getting closer.
"Let's see," he began, pulling out a small, white notebook. "Rachel E… Manager at Publix, fornicated with three different men at thirteen years old, kicked from home at eighteen..." Rachel could barely hear as she continued to try and crawl. She came to a sudden halt when Cassius planted his foot on her ankles to keep her in place. "Two ill-begotten children outside of marriage after nineteen, refused to help a poor man in his cause, offered salvation by James and many others, only to turn them all down. Says here that James even forgave you for your sin against him and never bothered you since."
Rachel's mind simply could not comprehend her predicament. Was this really James? And if not, how did this person know so much about her and her past?
Cassius soon closed the book as Rachel used her upper body to jerk around the floor in a desperate—yet pathetic—attempt to flee.
"Gee, lady, you sure are wicked. Tell ya what, I won't slay you personally. In exchange for one more chance at life, you'll have to deal with the wolves nearby. Oh! And I'll even bring your voice back."
The instant Cassius snapped his fingers, Rachel could feel a heavy burden lifted from her throat. The next thing she did was scream out at the top of her lungs like she never had before.
"Sheesh. Can you scream any—"
Yet her cries continued for several minutes. Cassius wanted to explain to her that it was he who had altered her GPS device. It was also he who drained all the gas from her tank. He even jammed her cellphone signal. But because of her piercing screams, he wasn't able to give her any advice.
Oh, how troubling it is to be an unsaved, single mother in this world.
Only when Rachel's vocal cords began to wane did she finally hear the howls of wolves close by.
"If ya had let me finished," Cassius declared, turning around to adjust his locks. "Those wolvesare attracted to screams..."