SeVen

-Chapter 3-

SEVEN


Book 1 of the Countdown Series


By: Korbin Scales


 
































PART 1: AUSTIN, TEXAS

































































-Chapter 1-


Matt Sender was tired.


         It was a Sunday morning in the middle of June and he didn’t want to wake up. Normally church would come first on Sundays, but this morning was different. The nineteen year old male with dark brown hair and green eyes slipped out of bed his eyelids were sagging due to his lack of sleep. He felt groggy and out of place today, more than ever. It was like he had never woken up from his horrible dream that was actually a reality. In truth Matt wasn’t perfect, nobody was. But ever since he grew up he immediately began to feel his heart burn. His parents raised him to believe Christ was real.


         Jesus Christ, the son of God was real.


         Matt knew that for a fact that if God wasn’t real Matt would be in a body bag somewhere on the side of the road. But he didn’t really know. He heard day by day about people worshiping their God above. But why was it only their God and not the homeless man down the street’s God? Matt had so many questions, but he picked the perfect Sunday to stay home and figure those questions out by his self.


         Nobody was home.


         They had just left the house, when he had awoken. He remembered his Mom calling, “Matt get up it’s time for church!” repeatedly.


         It was one thing Matt was sick of, living with his parents. But he wasn’t too ashamed of it, he wasn’t all too ashamed that his parents had never really let his writing career that he always dreamt of become a reality. He didn’t really care that they had told him that if he had enough money to publish a book he had enough money to move out of their house.


         It was part of the reason why Matt was so far away from them, if they were Christians and they spoke to their son like that then he didn’t want to have anything to do with Christians, he almost wanted to tell them that flat out, but instead he would research it a little more.


         He flipped open the Mac Book Air that he had bought with his own money and that he could personally call his own. The computer was already loaded up, the operating system started quicker than any other computer he had ever used which was his favorite part about the slim white computer.


         There were two icons posted on the scrollbar on the bottom of the screen. One being ITunes and the other being his favorite internet browser Safari.


         He clicked the compass on the bottom of his screen.


         The Safari web browser popped up in a matter of seconds.


         And then temptation crept upon him like a poison.


         There were numerous pornographic sites in his web browser, he fumbled anxiously with the pad of his Mac Book around the Apple home page that had popped up. He couldn’t remember where the history button was. If anyone else got a hold of the computer he would be screwed. He then found a tools button on the top left corner.


         He clicked it once, but it felt as if he clicked it repeatedly.


         Due to his motor-skill delay everyone said he wasn’t able to do normal things, horrible hand eye coordination and a bad motor-skill delay had made him what he had become today, an intelligent nineteen year old guy that was once good at soccer, and excellent at writing. But the motor-skill delay thought had always brought him down.


         It was almost more powerful than the poison known as temptation. It brought anger into his life, if it wasn’t for the delay maybe he would be better at sports than his brothers that were worshipped before him because of their sports. It was one thing he always wanted.


         His parents to congratulate him for writing something longer than a normal kid’s two paragraph beginning of a story. Matt had always written more than two paragraphs and never received any sort of recognition, but oh when Thomas did something at school with ROTC, or Football it was always Thomas this, and Thomas that.


         Sometimes he hated having a little brother that thought he was everything in the world. And that had lead him to his only vice.


         Escape.


         Sometimes when Matt was awake late at night he would click on the pornographic website and browse through pictures, every chance he had to get away from it he did, but then it pulled him back in. Like a poisonous fishing line, the poison part would slowly turn his mind into a perverted ball of mush, and the fishing line would keep bringing him back. There was no way he could escape.


         He tried praying, but he only got his parents yelling at him for stupid reasons, so he gave up on that. Praying and reading the Bible seemed to come and go for him. Now that things were finally going his way, they were completely out of the question.


         He double clicked the address bar on the top of his screen and immediately went onto his favorite social networking website in the world.


         FACEBOOK.


         He couldn’t imagine a world without it, he couldn’t even think of how hard it would be if he didn’t have hands. To click the link with his toes and to talk to people by typing one letter a minute when he could type over a hundred with his fingers.


         The website appeared.


         Status updates were the top thing on FACEBOOK. Even older people had FACEBOOK accounts now. But in truth it was built by a college student for networking on a college campus, and then it went down to High School and then…Mom frequently commenting on Matt’s status’.


         Matt got used to it.


         Until he got mad at his Mom.


         She would comment, “It’s all going to be okay, we’re praying for you.”


         He would never look at the comments. That’s all there was on his status’ which would push most of his friends away from commenting.


         Matt knew he didn’t need prayer.


         Matt needed something else to waste his time…adventure, corruption…violence. A good story to keep his mind going, as a writer he loved to read. He read everything that he thought was interesting and kept reading, and reading, and reading.


         He was glad that books would never die out, or at least he thought they would never die out. With the invention of the kindle and nook he was angry. He wanted to keep the traditional paper back and hard back books out. He supported the book industry, the librarians all over the world. He didn’t write for himself he wrote for them! He wrote so he could tell the world a story.


         One much like his that he hoped would impact the world.


         Matt’s next stop on the web browser was CNN the only really reliable news website in the world. The browser took a couple minutes to load which wasn’t normal.


         “Server must be full of people.” Matt said to himself. When the website finally loaded his jaw dropped at the headline.


MILLIONS VANISH ALL OVER THE WORLD


Matt didn’t know what to think; if millions really did vanish all over the world the only thing he could think of that happened was the rapture, what his parents have constantly heard about in church. The Rapture was this, the Rapture was that.


         But Matt always thought it was a way to scare people into Christianity, he never thought it was real. And if God did do this…why did he rip people away from their loved ones? Why did he do this to all of them?


         The questions hung in his head.


         He pulled his Iphone from his pocket then glanced at it seeing how many people had just called him at once. His phone didn’t even ring and people were constantly calling and sending him text messages.


         He slid his finger across the phone and unlocked it with his four digit pass code.


         He then went to his contacts application and scrolled down the list.


         Dad.


         Josh.


         Mom.


         Thomas.


         All of their phone numbers were listed in his phone, he struggled with the thoughts to call them to see if they were okay, they were at church they had to be okay. But he didn’t know for sure if they were, or if they weren’t.


         He didn’t want to know.


         More calls and text messages came in, he didn’t answer them, he didn’t know if he could handle the constant questions that blew up his phone.


         “Are you alive?” Was one of the questions.


         Matt didn’t even think about answering the question, they would soon see if he was alive, or if he was dead. They would all soon see how alive Matt was, even if he was dead on the street corner after a crazy man launched himself into a bank with a pistol in his hands.


         Matt closed his laptop without shutting down the internet then laughed, “It’s the end of the world as we know it.” He then approached his recliner then sat on it and relaxed, “and I feel fine.”





She was screaming in pain.


         Shattered glass and a smoking engine lay in a twisted heap of metal thrown out across Highway 30 in Greenville Texas. She didn’t want to cry, she had to be mature, and she couldn’t show anyone her weakness. She was seventeen and beautiful, the memories of her ex-boyfriend calling her the most beautiful girl in the world rarely slipped through her mind because she didn’t believe it, but she knew deep down inside that he truly believed that she was.


         She had chocolate hair and matching chocolate eyes that he used to get lost into…that he loved to stare into…that he loved…


         She wished he was with her now.


         It had been almost three months since they had stopped talking, and now she was scared. Bleeding from a gash above her head and wanting to cry. Her crème colored VW bug had turned into twisted metal.


         She was paying attention, but the driver of the car in front of her had suddenly disappeared. Her thick green glasses hung from her face, the left side had a crack running down it while the right was barely hanging on her face.


         Tears drizzled down her eyes.


         She wished he was here.


         She wished he could hold her right now and tell her it would all be okay.


         He always made the promise to her, that he would protect her in her time of need, but where was he now? Why wasn’t he holding her telling her that it was all going to be okay now? Where was he?


         Where was Matt?


 



































-Chapter 2-


Andre had never liked the thought of drinking.


         But when he had tried it he was immediately addicted to it. Andre was nineteen and chubby with thick black hair and icy blue eyes. He was wearing a white T-shirt and black jeans with Nike Running shoes tied tight on his feet. He was trying to work out, but running in jeans just made everything harder. He wasn’t big on news, nor what was going on in Batesville Arkansas where he lived, but he knew his best friend Matt was and he also knew that there was something bigger going on than the hottest day of the year.


         Andre was holding the white phone up to his ear outside. He didn’t know why Matt wasn’t answering, nor why he couldn’t reach any of his other friends. Were they gone? Were they all gone like he had dreamt in one of his few nightmares? What if they were? Did God take them away like he did my Mom’s Sanity? Or my chance of living a normal life? The questions in Andre’s mind never seemed to stop; they were always there like his grandmother who was stuck watching soap operas in their small house on Oriole Street.


         He hated the house, always did.


         The house was too yellow to him; once in a while he would look at the house and think that it was God’s way of showing how much he cared, by peeing on the house. The thought made him laugh, but it disgusted him more than anything.


         He tried calling Matt once more, voicemails were pointless to his best friend, he would call Matt, but Matt would never answer his voicemails even if it was urgent. Matt was always stuck at work, or even doing other stuff more important than answering his phone.


         Andre felt like his best friend was slipping away from him. But he didn’t want to admit it to himself that it really was happening as everything was starting to surround the brink of despair.


         Andre cursed out loud.


         He then violently shoved the door to his house open. He walked inside seeing the white cat without a tail purring and his grandmother who was in her late eighties watching the very end of a soap opera.


         He hated how she treated him.


         It was part of the reason why he hated God, that and he blamed God for taking his siblings away. It was not his fault, not his Mom’s fault, but all of God’s fault, and what about his stepdad that was in jail for writing a hot check even though he already did his time.


         It was God.


         God.


         God.


         God.


         The only person that seemed to love his followers like crazy, but hate everyone that didn’t follow his word, or anything else he did. It seemed like he hated the ones that didn’t believe, but it wasn’t true. Andre knew that from when Matt constantly told him that God was there watching over him, and the only reason why Andre was packing his bags and getting ready to go into a vocational school that would change his life was because God had a plan for him.


         It was hard for Andre to believe that God was actually there.


         “Andre close the door you’re letting all of the cold air out!” His grandmother wheezed.


         “Shut up Laine!” Andre yelled.


         “Boy don’t tell me to shut up!”


         Andre turned his back on her and walked away grunting under his breath, “Hope you live to see the end of that stupid show.”


         He grew up with her all of his life, but now he was even more sick of her than ever before. She had been nothing but a problem to him, nothing but a…


         He didn’t want to say the words because he knew she would hear him say the dreaded words, and then it would be another one of those “Andre get out of my house!” fights. He hated them, they made him sick and he knew how much she hated them too.


         In a way they were both alike.


         Laine was just older and more experienced than Andre, and Andre was just a lot more mature for his age, thinking Society was bad when it actually was, he just looked deeper into the plot of things rather than looking at the small things like the wars that were going on.


         The politics were what pissed him off the most. He had a view that not a lot of people had. Politics is what started the civil war, politics is what would start another civil war if there was one which was very true, if slavery wouldn’t have happened then there wouldn’t have been a civil war, but instead lazy people from the south wanted other people to do their work for them.


         Andre hated living in the south, it was always hot in the south, he wanted to live somewhere cold, maybe Canada or further north. Siberia even would work for him as long as it was cold all the time he would like it.


         But it wasn’t a possibility now.


         Even though he had suddenly heard the news from the classic country music station that played on his small antique radio he knew what he had to do. Even if he didn’t get a hold of Matt he had to race to find him.


         Matt had once made a promise.


         “If anything like the rapture ever happens, we’ll find each other and we’ll form a team and find all of the Christians. We’ll band together and face the antichrist.” Andre remembered it as if it was yesterday.


         He agreed with the subject, but he told Matt that he wouldn’t fight for God he would fight for peace and nothing else, if the Antichrist did kill him then he would die with honor knowing that he fought for something that actually mattered to him instead of most of the world.


         Out of anxiety he called Matt again.


         This time it got through, “Hey Bud what’s up?” Andre asked into the phone.


         “Just relaxing.” Matt replied bluntly. “What’s up on your end?”


         “You do know the world is ending as we speak don’t you?”


         “Yeah, but I don’t know if I should really care or not.”


         “What do you mean?”


         “I just mean, it’s not anything different. I kinda like it like this you know. It’s so quiet here by myself, I can finally relax without Thomas or Josh being here.”


         “Yeah, but Thomas and Josh are cool, plus they’re good brothers and so are you.”


         Andre had felt honored when Matt said he would become a brother into the Sender Family. He would never forget that day, even when he passed on to live in the lake of fire, he knew that Matt would go down to save him.


         “Thanks Man” Matt replied. “But I guess I do have to do something about whatever is going on.”


         “Yeah, it would be a good idea.”


         “You think so?” Matt laughed.


         “Yeah, I really do, I mean you told me that we would band together when this rapture thing happened. You told me that we would find Christians all over the world and help them survive this thing. You told me that we would go to battle against the Antichrist whenever he showed his face.”


         “Dude, we won’t know who he is for three years. There will be people that will look like him, but honestly there’s no way for us to tell who he is.”


         Andre sighed, “Alright well that gives us time to prepare for battle though doesn’t it? To train and all, we’re going to need to learn how to fight in order to take this guy down.”


         “Yeah, you’re right Andre, but I do remember one thing from church. Nothing is going to kill this guy except the power of God.”


         “So we bring bibles?”


         “No, seven years from now Jesus will come down from Heaven and strike down the antichrist. I don’t know exactly what day it will be, but we will find out soon enough.”


         “That’s if we survive that seven years.” Andre said.


         “Very optimistic of you.” Matt laughed.


         “Yeah, well I guess that’s the kind of mood I’m in.”


         Matt’s cell phone made the same beeping noise Andre always dreaded, Matt had a text message.


         “Hold on Andre I’m going to see who this is from.” Matt said putting his friend on speaker phone.


         “Alright sounds good.” Andre said with a sigh.


         “I’m still here, just have to find my messages…”


         Andre heard the hesitant tone of voice that his friend just used.


         “What happened?” Andre asked.


         “It’s Adrianna…she’s in trouble.”


         Andre never knew how his friend really felt about Adrianna, but he knew that she wasn’t right for him. He knew that he could find a better girl.


         “I have to help her.” Matt said.


         Andre noticed the pain in his voice, he was still hurt from what happened, but it had been three months ago that they stopped talking, why was he so hurt about it? Andre never questioned him about Adrianna, he knew it would only turn up to be an argument. Matt loved Adrianna once and now he didn’t, or so Andre thought.


         He pushed the thoughts out of his mind.


         “So does that mean you’re coming up here to Arkansas?”


         “After I stop in Greenville.” Matt replied.


         “Cool, I’ll start walking to Little Rock.”


         “Dude, I’ll pick you up in Batesville.”


         “Then where are we going?”


         “We’ll make our way through Arkansas and up north to Washington D.C. maybe someone there will already be building a safe house for everyone to hide in. Hold on I’m grabbing the keys to my car and I’m about to go to it now. Almost there…closer…closer…”


         The window to Matt’s car shattered.


         Andre screamed into the phone, “Matt! Matt! Answer me are you okay?”


         The phone suddenly went dead.



































-Chapter 3-


Matt thought the loud noise that shattered the window of his car was lightning. He looked up in the sky to see the plane so low to the ground that he could practically jump and touch it. Matt ducked down, dropping his phone and screaming at the same time as his ears started to bleed.


         It wasn’t safe.


         Nothing was safe…he was going to die in an inferno if…There was a scream coming from the house that the plane was about to hit. Matt had no time to react, he watched saddened by the sudden impact of the plane. But it didn’t stop there. It kept skidding along the ground, the grinding of metal on concrete made his ears bleed even more.


         He covered his ears then dashed after the plane that was still moving too fast for him to catch up to.


         He’d been on a plane before, he knew there was an exit hatch, knew there were two doors on the plane, and knew how to open them in case of an emergency. He stopped running for just one second then looked back at his car.


         He twirled his keys in his fingers, “Alright baby, you ready to go for a spin?” He asked his white Pontiac Grand Prix. He climbed into the front seat of the car and gunned the engine. He knew it wasn’t good for driving off road, but he also knew it wasn’t good for a plane flying directly over him.


         Andre was calling repeatedly again.


         Matt couldn’t answer his voice would only be covered up by the screech of the plane scraping against the pavement. Matt cursed then reversed the car.


         Another car was speeding down Mason Creek road, Matt hesitated, but then spun his small white car around facing the plane.


         The car then sped forward over the curb and into a pile of broken glass and debris. It got him close enough to the plane now, half of the house was still intact, but if anyone was in the house they were surely dead.


         Matt climbed out of his car he forced himself over piles of wood and glass, everything was suddenly in his way, it was slowing him down he couldn’t get to the plane in time before it crashed into another house, if there were any survivors of the plane would they even be able to walk again?


         He sprang forward.


         Screaming out as a piece of shattered glass cut his shin. He knew there would be a scar, but…


         “This is no time to play hero!” Someone yelled.


         Matt spun.


         The plane suddenly skidded to a halt, a police officer was standing at the door of his car, glaring at Matt who looked as confused as ever. The officer pulled his Smith and Weston pistol out of its holster then aimed at Matt.


         “Put your hands up!” He yelled.


         Matt raised his hands. “I’m innocent!” Matt yelled.


         “Until proven guilty!” The officer screamed back in anger.


         “For what?”


         Matt’s heart was beating out of his chest. “Murder.” The officer said putting the gun to his head.


         “Wait!” Matt yelled. “I can help you, just lower the weapon, we’re all going to survive this.”


         “You don’t understand.” The officer was now crying, Matt tried to approach him. “One more step and I’ll do it.”


         Matt had to scream at the top of his lungs to get the officer’s attention, “You don’t have to do this!”


         “They were all I had!” The officer yelled back. “He took them from me and now he’s up in Heaven with everyone that followed him laughing and probably having a drink!”


         “No, it’s not like that Officer!”


         “Then what is it like?”


         Matt thought for a second, his quick thinking had come in handy once before, but not now, he made up a stupid idea that might get him killed, but he knew that even in death he would receive phone calls from Andre and Adrianna asking him if he was still alive.


         “I understand that they were taken away from you and you’re highly upset, but they’re in a better place now. You should be happy for them!”


         “A better place?” He snapped. “That’s what I’ve heard all my life, what kind of better place could there be besides the loving arms of a father and a husband?”


         “Heaven.” Matt said.


         “There’s no such thing as Heaven or Hell!” The Officer yelled.


         “And that’s why you’re not with them! Because you don’t believe!”


         “I’ve never believed, I just went with them to church so it wouldn’t be another argument with my wife.”


         “I understand that sir. I always went with my family because it was what they were doing, because it was what I was raised on and now that I see this I know that they were right!”


         “Promise me one thing.” He said.


         “I can’t make a promise to someone I don’t know.”


         “Something is telling me that you need a car, and some sort of protection. Am I right?”


         Thank God. Matt thought knowing what the officer was about to offer him.


         “I will lay down my gun and car for you my friend. You have taught me something today.”


         He was still in tears.


         “What have I taught you today?”


         “No matter what kind of hell we’re all going through, there is someone out there that is like us and that can help us out.”


         “You’re right.”


         “But I just want to know one thing. Why do I get the feeling that you need my car and gun?”


         “Come with me and I’ll explain.”


         “I don’t know if I want to.” He said.


         “What better things do you have to do?” Matt asked.


         He smirked, “The name is Pedraza.” He said.


         I saw the familiar face, the brown eyes and the black hair cut that reminded me of Elvis’ hair. It was an odd hair style, but it fit his personality. I remembered Pedraza from the bank. He told me that he was getting married. He told me that he was getting married, and that he was joining the police force.


         “Wait, you’re…Matt…you’re the guy that works at the Bank.”


         “Yeah, still working in that stupid bank.” He said.


         “I remember you in training.”


         “Yeah, fun times man, fun times.”


         “Unlike these.”


         “Yeah, I know right, now let’s get out of here, I have people that I think you should meet.”


         “Actually I have access to the armory.”


         “The police armory?”


         “You needed a weapon correct?”


         Matt nodded.


         “Well I can get some more just in case we need them.”


         “Sounds like a plan, and before we do that I need to grab something from inside my house.”


         “Where is it?”


         “Right behind us.” Matt said running into his house.


         Pedraza followed.


         “So how has your sister been?” Matt asked as he closed the door to the house behind Pedraza.


         The two annoying dogs were barking like crazy as Pedraza walked in.


         “She’s been okay I guess haven’t really been able to contact her today. I mean, I don’t know how it happened, everything I just want my wife and child back.”


         “I heard your wife had a kid, but I never really heard much after that.”


         “It was a girl her name was Ella.”


         “I’m so sorry to hear about that.” Matt said. He walked into him and his brother Josh’s room. They shared a room, nineteen and twenty-one year old brother’s sharing a room. Matt always said it was his temporary room, but it was starting to change.


         He picked up a red book with a twisted spine then read the gold letters on the side. “Holy Bible.” He said out loud. “I think this will come in handy.”


         Pedraza was right behind him, “A Bible. Didn’t know you were the God Fearing type.”


         “I’m not, just had it in store. I was raised by my parents who were Christians, long story I’ll explain in the car ride to Greenville.”


         “Why Greenville?”


         “I have a friend in trouble.”


         “Ah, Matt going to save some people.” Pedraza smirked.


         “Yeah, you could say that, but I only know of one so far.”


         “Is it a boy or girl?”


         “Girl.” Matt replied calmly feeling the pain shoot through his heart once more.


         “Girlfriend?”


         “For all I know she’s dead and I don’t want to talk about it.” Matt replied calmly. “I’m sorry but I just can’t talk about it.”


         “So she is your girlfriend?”


         “No Pedraza, not my girlfriend.”


         They stopped talking until they reached the police car, Pedraza flipped on the sirens, “we need to go to the Leander Police Station, from there we can get into the armory. Do you think we’re going to need some money?”


         Matt nodded, “I think we are, how do you expect we get it?”


         “You work for a bank, you know the codes don’t you?”


         “I’m going to get fired!” I shouted.


         “Looks like we’re running anyways.”


         “You have a point. And I am scheduled for work today, take the police car get to the station, I’ll pull the bait money on purpose, you’ll be the first one to receive the call then head over to the bank and pick me up, got it?”


         Pedraza nodded, “Sounds like a plan.”