The Wicked End

The next morning, Sunday, Davanee woke to find that the weather patterns had all gone back to normal, and nothing seemed out of place. She was beginning to think she'd gone delusional or that it was all just a dream.

Yawning, she stretched as she walked down the hall to the bathroom. Starting the shower, she undressed quickly and stepped in under the hot water, letting it relieve the stress she had accumulated over the week, and felt very refreshed after getting out and getting dressed again. Pulling her hair back, Davy walked downstairs, and instantly, she knew that there was something out of place.

The house was dead silent.

Usually her mother would be awake and watching TV in her pajamas while her dad was in the shower. It was the regular Sunday morning routine for them; it never failed. Then at eleven they'd go off to church while Davy stayed at home and lounged around. But it wasn't eleven yet, the TV was off, and the shower wasn't running.

Figuring that maybe, for the first time since she could remember, her parents had simply overslept, Davanee headed through the kitchen to their bedroom, where the door was closed.

Knocking on the door, she called out, "Mom?" There came no answer, and she called again only to get the same response. Knowing her mother was a light sleeper and that she should have awoken by now, Davy slowly turned the handle and pushed the door open, expecting to see both her parents asleep in bed, yet dreading that she'd find something else.

Her breath hitched in her throat. The bed was empty, but the sheets and blankest were ruffled, indicating that they had been slept in. And her mother always made the bed in the morning. Quietly stepping into the room, Davy's heart started to beat harder in her chest. Hesitantly, noticing that there was still a dent in the pillow on her mother's side, she pulled back the covers only to see wrinkled sheets. She didn't know exactly what she was looking for, but she was so confused; this was so unlike her parents. Had she looked harder, she would have seen her mother's wedding and engagement rings resting on the mattress.

Backtracking into the kitchen, Davanee looked out the window. Both her parents' cars were in the driveway. There was on note left out on the table, so they couldn't have gone anywhere.

Davanee started to panic. Her parents were missing, she didn't know why, and furthermore, she didn't know what to do about it. Hurriedly she grabbed the phone and dialed Zack's number, since he was the closest and at that moment, she just needed to hear a comforting voice to calm her down. Holding the phone to her ear, all Davy heard was the empty sound of nothing on the other line, not even a dial tone to greet her. The lines were dead.

Putting the phone down, she slipped on a pair of shoes, figuring if she couldn't call Zack, she would just go over to his house. But as soon as she was walking along the main road, she stopped dead in her tracks. As she looked down the street, she saw five cars that had all crashed either into other cars, or into houses or telephone lines. That explained the dead phone.

Slowly, Davy walked past Zack's house to the closest crash, two cars that had hit head on in the middle of the road. There was smoke rising from fires in the engines of the two vehicles, oil spilling out onto the road, and she was expecting to see at least two dead or mangled bodies once she got close enough. But they were empty. Both cars were completely void of any passengers. She didn't even see any blood in the seats or on the steering wheels as she peered in through the windows of both cars; at least if there was blood, she'd know that whoever was involved in the crash had somehow been able to get out of the cars and find help.

Taking a step back from the cars as a plume of thick, black smoke smothered her lungs, Davy noticed other people wandering the streets, looking on in awe at all the crashed vehicles that lined the streets as they talked quietly to each other. The tiniest wave of relief washed over her, knowing that at least she wasn't alone. Not completely.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Davy turned and sprinted back to Zack's house. Seeing a friendly, familiar face would make her feel even better.

"Zacky!?" she screamed as she pounded on his door. Her heart was beating rapidly, her stomach was spinning around and around and she felt like she'd be sick with worry at any moment. "Zacky, please be here," she whimpered to herself. She could already feel the warm tears in her eyes. What if he wasn't there? What if Zack had disappeared like her parents had? What if all of her friends had disappeared? She didn't know where she would go, or what she would do.

"Davy!" Zack said as he opened the door and she fell forward into his arms, filled with even more relief than before. "Come on, we have to get inside," he said as he pulled her further into the house and closed the door behind them.

"Zacky, what's going on? Where'd everyone go?" Davanee asked shakily after they had both taken a seat on the couch in the living room.

"Your parents are gone too?" Seeing Davy nod in affirmation, Zack slowly nodded as well, looking down at his hands and taking a deep breath. "Remember what I was talking to you about last Sunday? The Rapture?"

Davy blinked a couple times, pausing to think if what Zack had been telling her about could have really happened. "No.... No, it didn't happen. It couldn't have," she blatantly refused. "There's no such thing as God!" she shouted, fighting back the tears as she started to become hysterical.

"Yes there is. And the Rapture has come. All of those who stilled believe in God were taken up into heaven. Those of us non-believers who were left behind are left to face the wrath of the Anti-Christ. He is risen and he will take over every race of man and beast; to some, those who are strong, it will be Hell on Earth. For others, those who are naïve, it will be paradise," Zack explained quietly, looking up at his friend. "He will take on a bride and make her his queen, and together they will rule all the lands for seven years. We are living in the times of the Tribulation now, and at the end of the seven years those left alive will be hoarded into two armies, the vastest armies every known to man. And they will fight the battle to end all battles.... The Battle of Armageddon."

Once Zack had finished his speech, Davanee didn't know what to think. "Tell me, right now, how you know this. I want to know," she said, her voice shaky with both fear and anger as she stood up from her spot next to him.

"I can't tell you."

"Bullshit, you can't tell me! Tell me, if you believe in God and all of what you just said, and I know you do, why are you still here?" she asked, crossing her arms as Zack looked up at her. "You'd have been taken, too."

"You need to understand that these are going to be hard times, and I need you to trust me. I was chosen to stay for a reason, and I can't tell you all of the things you're asking of me. I can't change the balance of good and evil for that is not my purpose here now," Zack answered before looking back down at his hands.

"Do you hear yourself, Zacky? You sound crazy.... What do you think you are, a fucking prophet?" Davanee asked sarcastically. She noticed the way he looked up at her quickly before looking away, averting his gaze as much as possible while trying to be subtle; he failed miserably. "...You can't be serious, Zack. You can't." When Zack continued to look down and not say a word, Davy sighed. "So, if you really are a prophet then, tell me this: what you just told me only barely coincides with the bible, and just because I don't believe in God doesn't mean I don't know it. So how is any of this true?"

"Maybe you shouldn't believe everything you read," Zack shot back, looking up at her in an aggravated way. All he wanted to do was get her to believe him and move on with it. "They had no idea what they were talking about when they wrote the bible. Please don't ask me things I can't answer. I've already told you more than you should know," he snapped.

"And why should I even know any of it? Why bother telling me to begin with?" Davanee asked, crossing her arms.

"Because, believe it or not, the fate of this world and what's left of it rests in your hands from here on out," Zack replied as he looked her dead in the eyes.

Scoffing, Davy rolled her eyes. "Like you really expect me to believe that? I'm not fucking stupid, Zack. How could I possibly be special enough to have such a burden?"

"Because you just are; you'll find out. I know this may be hard to believe but...you need to. I'm sorry, I can't tell you anything else," Zack said, calming down as he hung his head once more.

Shaking her head, Davy stood there and looked at Zack, waiting for him to say something else. But he didn't. "I'm going to go find the guys," she said as she turned away from him, leaving the house.

Whatever he just told me can't be the truth...can it? Davanee thought to herself. How could I possibly play a part in the fate of humankind?

Trying to halt the stream of never ending questions that were running through her brain, Davy concentrated more on searching for her other friends. She began running down the street towards Jimmy's house, as his was the next closest. Soon she was stopped short when she saw that Jimmy, Matt, and Brian were all rushing on foot in her direction, back toward Zack's house. Hurrying, she met them and panted as she caught her breath.

"You guys have no idea how happy I am to see you," she said between rushed breaths. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard before talking again. "I almost thought you guys would have been gone, like the rest." Then realizing that there was one missing from the group, Davanee felt her heart sink a little deeper in her chest. "...Where...where's Johnny?" she asked, feeling that sense of dread from earlier creeping back up on her.

"Johnny's gone," Matt answered quietly as the troupe moved closer to Zack's house.

"Gone?"

"Disappeared...vanished. We can't find him anywhere," Brian replied. Davanee just looked at the three in confusion and sadness, and when she did she noticed something peculiar. Jimmy seemed to be more fidgety than usual and looked a bit uneasy walking along with Matt and Brian. They were all best friends, especially Jimmy and Brian, so why was he acting like he wanted to get away?

"Have you seen Zack?" Jimmy asked out of the blue, though they were all heading to his house so they would have found out sooner or later.

"Yeah. Guys, there's something wrong with him. I think...I think he's gone off the deep end. He talks, and he doesn't make sense," Davy answered, still thinking of how awkward it was hearing Zack talk about the things he had told her.

"Talks about what?" Matt asked hastily, a questioning glint in his eyes as he cocked his head and looked at Davanee closely.

"I don't know. A bunch of bullshit, mainly," she answered, looking around the street again. "Have you guys seen all these cars?" she asked, noticing how it seemed that the three friends didn't pay a single ounce of attention to what was going on around them.

"Yeah, and if you think this is bad, you should have seen downtown," Jimmy piped up as he pointed behind him, back toward the downtown area of Huntington.

"What was he talking about, Davanee?" Matt pressed again, seeming a bit aggravated that she had ignored his question completely. By now, he had stopped walking, causing the others to stop as well.

"He was talking about the Rapture. And the Tribulation and the Anti-Christ and all these other things. He thinks he's some sort of prophet. Personally, I think he's on crack or something." Crossing her arms, she looked up at all three of her friends. Something seemed different about them, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Smiling, she reached up and hugged Matt for dear life. "I really am glad to see you guys, you don't even know. I was so scared," she said, feeling Matt's arms drape around her, and she felt safe for the first time that morning. Davanee had always had feelings for Matt, so being close to him always made her feel better. Pulling away from him, she then turned and hugged both Jimmy and Brian.

"We need to go talk to Zack," Brian said after the small display of affection, and the group started walking once more in the direction of Zack's house.

"Well, good luck with that," Davy replied as she walked along with them.