Waiting

Tuesday, August 25, 2019

Well, so much for Geeky Dude’s analysis. It sure didn’t move like any insect I’ve ever seen.

I guess it was waiting for the world leaders to arrive. I wonder if the Angels are insulted that Stauch sent the Secretary of State instead of coming himself. I don’t know if Angels get insulted.

This evening the café is full, mostly our regulars, most of whom had been here all day. I don’t think anybody, anywhere went to work today, except for the news reporters that is – but I guess that would figure, covering the end of the world must be the ultimate story. John usually goes to the market on Tuesday mornings, but we didn’t go today for obvious reasons. None of the delivery guys have shown up either. So we were down to canned tomatoes for dinner. John made spaghetti and garlic toast.

I was behind the counter, straining noodles and trying not to scald myself when everybody shouted. I put down the big pot, carefully, and ran around front where I could see the TV, just a little too late to see it actually happen.

“Ah,” John said, “The infantry as arrived.”

“Giants!” Born Again said, I thought he was having a heart attack, he was pale and sweating. But after a minute or two he seemed to perk up.

I wish we had a bigger screen, and HD, it took me a minute to understand what they were talking about. You’ve seen it and they’ve played it back a hundred times today, but in those first couple of minutes it just didn’t make any sense to me. It still doesn’t, even though I’ve watched the replay over and over. To me, it was like they had been there all along, only nobody noticed them. Like all hundred of those big damn giant soldier looking things were standing in my blindspot. No sparkles, no magic transporter effects, no smoke and flash, just suddenly there they are in a perfect chevron around the original Seraphim. MSNBC played it back frame by frame, and I don’t think even IL&M could have duplicated that effect. I don’t see how that could have been technology, no matter how advanced, I think John is wrong.

“What the hell are those things?” Somebody asked.

“Infantry, soldiers, the alien equivalent of Black River Security,” John said.

“Nephilim.” The street preacher was standing behind us. I hadn’t even heard the door open.

He came in and I thought we were going to get a sermon, but he sat down at the lunch counter. “Spaghetti? Smells good.”

John gave me the raised eyebrow – John’s pretty damned clear with the non-verbal communications: it might be the end of the world, but people still got to eat, get on it – and I hustled around the counter to dish up the food.

“Nephilim,” I asked him, “were supposed to be fallen Angels, right?”

“No.” He smiled at me and took a bite of garlic bread. "That's Hollywood."

“Nephilim are giants, the offspring of Angels and the daughters of man,” Born Again was waving his bible. “Genesis, Chapter Six, Verse One” (I’m paraphrasing here, I didn’t actually catch chapter and verse – I had to look it up later).

The Preacher said, “Correct. They were supposedly warlike.”

“Well, they sure as fuck look warlike to me,” Geeky Guy said. He’s got a mouth on him, Geeky Guy does, somebody told me that he used to be in the Navy twenty years ago – I’d believe that. The army, the squad room, and prison – even I don’t swear like he does. I had to agree with him though, they do look like soldiers. Big brutal bastards. They’re what? At least nine, ten feet tall, like the biggest pro-ball linebackers I’ve ever seen. Massive, that’s the word I’m looking for; they look like they weigh a thousand pounds. No wings on them that I can see. No glow either, no halos. No obvious weapons, but they look like they could tear a man apart with their bare hands. I’ve got to agree with Born Again, they look more like men than the Seraphim does, not quite right, but they look like giant men. John’s got to be wrong, why would aliens look like men?

I was looking directly the screen when the Seraphim finally moved. Maybe somebody else can describe it better, to me it was like music, I’ve never seen anything move like that. Geeky Dude is wrong on all accounts, it doesn’t move like a bug and even on our crappy LD tube its wings are like rainbows – Oil on Water, Street Preacher said. Insect wings my ass, they like a waterfall, like fire. How do you describe such things in words? I can’t. I can’t even imagine what it must be like in person. It must be incredible. I looked at some webcam footage of the crowd, people were falling to their knees, sobbing, crying. Hell, at least three quarters of the Mexican Army grunts dropped their weapons and were on their knees, can’t say I blame them.

Every channel kept their cameras on the Angels, I didn’t realize until just now that it stopped in front of the Mexican president and the other delegates. I was looking directly at the screen when it finally spoke and the sound went dead. When the picture went out, I thought it was just the Mexican cameraman dropping his camera or something. But it’s out on all channels here, no sound or video out of Mexico City. The CNN anchors are going apeshit, MSNBC has the 'Please Stand By' notice up, I guess they're not even trying.

We’ve been sitting here for the last hour, waiting for the news to come back on.

Posted by VanDerDecken at 6:13 PM