Careful what you wish for

“Good God, man. . .there’s another one!”, a voice cried out behind me, manifestly astonished.



I spun on a  sixpence in the direction of the excited voice. Facing away from the searing heat of the sun, I saw three men abreast, crouching; they were partly hidden by an old stone wall, with their heads and shoulders peering over.



“Quick, hurry, they will see you. Get behind the wall”, one of them hollered to me.



He beckoned me with both hands, as too did his sidekicks. I bolted forward, covering the twenty feet or so like a gazelle - absolutely perplexed as to where my car was, where my house was, or even where in the world I was.



The half ruined chest high wall was no match for my adrenaline fuelled frame, and I vaulted over with one hand atop it’s crumbling edges, and swung my torso over - that’s when I realised I was naked - as too were the three frightened men, who had ducked for concealment and had pressed their backs against the wall in a crouched position.



I sought enlightenment - an explanation.



“What on Earth is going on” I demanded to know.



“Buddy, this ain’t no Earth that I’ve ever known”, quipped the man beside me.



“Take a look”, he added.



I rose up, still hugging the yellow crumbling masonry wall. Before I even peered beyond its limit, above me I noticed two swooping aerial beasts - I took my view over the wall, the sun was a huge megalocyte of a swollen star, and across planes of weathered, ancient rock, a scene akin to an Hieronymus Bosch vision played out before me. War was being waged by a whole manner of other-worldly beasts.



“What the hell is this place” I managed to blurt.



“We’re dead”, replied one of the naked strangers, “Raptured, it would seem.”



I heard myself say through parched lips, bedazzled, “My God.”



“I wouldn’t be so sure, buddy,” said another.