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EA QUATTUORThe J Robert Oppenhiemer research institute, Binggs MontanaIn December 2001 a bill was rushed through congress and swiftly ratified at the request of the department of defense. Given the recent attacks on New York and Washington as well as the new urgent directive on the global war on terror there were minimal if any resistance to acquire the five billion dollars needed to set up a brand new research facility.
Eighteen months later, armed with all the latest technology and the best brains on the planet, Project Pandora opened its doors.
Project Pandora was, basically an in depth scientific research program to find answers and in Project Pandora’s case it was specifically aimed at children who were born with unusual and incredible talents.
These subjects/Savants came from all over the world, nearly all of them by force and some were exceptionally more gifted than others.
Among the varying arrays of talent on show were kids who could calculate faster than any computer on the planet, some kids could play any instrument you chose to put in front of them, some kids could even sketch a drawing of any hidden photograph you had on your person, immediately after touching it.
However, there were four even more amazing subjects who stood out head and shoulders above the others and their names are, Greta, Thomas, Joseph and Karl.
The reasons why these particular four are exceptionally more incredible than all the others are numerous. Greta, Thomas, Joseph and Karl are Quads and were born on the 25th of December 1993, which of course is Christmas day.
Immediately after giving birth, the quads mother, Heidi Kreutz died rather suddenly, doctors at the Pinzendorf hospital were completely baffled, as right up and until the waters broke there hadn’t been any signs or any indications of any complications.
The Father a Mr Hans Metler had earlier fled the nest shortly after realising he was about to be the father of four children.
There were no immediate family members to hand, or none that came forward, so six months after the birth and various newspaper coverage, a family stepped forward and offered to foster the newborn mites.
It wasn’t until the quads had reached their first birthdays that it soon became apparent they weren’t your ordinary run of the mill children.
One of many strange incidents was, one morning when making a cup of coffee Mr Zimmerman (the foster father) picked the cup up off a kitchen unit and on turning to enter the lounge tripped over one of the many toys that had been kindly donated by generous and sympathetic well wishers.
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Zimmerman pitched full length and thus unable to stop the scalding hot cup of coffee from spilling directly all over little Greta’s smiling upturned face.
To his horror Heinrich Zimmerman fully expected baby Greta to scream in agony and probably be scarred for life.
What happened next completely hit Heinrich for six and staring at Greta, he gasped in utter shock and amazement!
As soon as the scalding hot liquid landed on little Greta, there was, as you’d expect a reaction from the youngster. However it wasn’t what you’d imagine from someone who’d just had scalding fluid spilled onto them, it was sort of a muted yelp added with a sort of puzzled expression.
What was completely astounding Heinrich though was the fact that as soon as little Greta’s face began to redden and probably blister, it stopped, for want of a better word, it just didn’t.
Indeed Greta carried on playing with Mr squeaky mouse just as if nothing had happened and shortly after, a still stunned and shocked Heinrich Zimmerman proceeded to clean up the spilled beverage.
Over the course of the next eight years one strange occurrence followed another and It didn’t take long before the local gossip machine cranked itself into action and it was only a matter of time before a US Naval attaché working at the Munich consulate and whilst watching a local news broadcast, made a swift cell phone call to an unlisted number.
Six weeks later, the Kreutz Quad’s were in the news again, though this time it was under tragic circumstances.
There had been a terrible accident involving a mechanised digger and the Zimmerman’s family saloon, on colliding with the roadside digger the Volvo estate careered over the side of the Zingspeigle pass dropping 200 metres down into the ravine below.
Exploding on impact there was of course no survivors, only tragically, six badly charred bodies of which were later identified as Mr and Mrs Zimmerman along with the Quads.
Of course the Quads hadn’t really perished, as soon as that Naval attaché who incidentally wasn’t really a Naval attaché had made that phone call, a task procurement unit from Project Pandora was subsequently dispatched and on organizing a fake death for the Quads, the extraction was swiftly completed. However, unfortunately for the Zimmerman’s, their demise “was” real, there couldn’t be any loose ends were Project Pandora was concerned.
Six days later, the four slightly bemused and drugged Quadruplets were introduced to the weird and wonderful world that was Project Pandora and it wasn’t long before the Kreutz children were performing like sea lions at the local zoo.
Simple stuff to start with, like immersing all four children in Hydrochloric acid baths, along with a sheet of high tensile steel, the steel dissolved, the kid’s didn’t.
More experiments ensued and raised eyebrow followed raised eyebrow so eventually like the eyebrow, the ante was also raised and thus the Kreutz children then entered the “final phase.”
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Deep inside the core of the J Robert Oppenhiemer research facility lies a special room, this was were all the really really top secret stuff went on, real hush hush, the other experiments were all classified of course, but this, “The Alpha Room” is were all the heavy duty shit went down, like Alien autopsies, Black ops genetics, Bio mechanical engineering etc.
Usually all the personnel involved in these rather nefarious activities were extremely expendable and as such knew the minute they signed up for Pandora that they could never ever leave his facility, one of the scientists favourite records was Hotel California and for good reason.
The lights were dimmed and there was the sound of a low hum from the equipment, Dr Peterson glanced at several of his colleagues, nodding he spoke.
“Ready?”
Everyone nodded, “Ok,” murmured Dr Peterson, “lets get this show on the road.”
As soon as Peterson said those words, the humming sound intensified and all four Kreutz kids screamed!
The second all quadruplets screamed, Dr Peterson gestured to one of his fellow scientists to ease back on the controls.
What was actually going on in the Alpha room was. By attaching various electrodes to the children’s heads the other ends then being attached to a revolutionary piece of equipment called the Einstein Enhancer.
This incredible device could scan and monitor synaptic brain wave patterns, it could also enhance parts of the brain that were deemed as dormant or none active, given what the four Kreutz kids were already capable of, well, the possibilities were endless.
The screaming subsided to mere whimpers now and Dr James Peterson indicated that, that “was” the required pitch needed.
The Einstein Enhancer carried on working it’s magic on the four securely strapped children seated directly in front of the contraption, Peterson indicated one more minute and then shortly after, made a cutting motion across his throat.
The machine whirred to a stop and Dr Peterson strode over to where the now unconscious Quads were slumped forward.
“Status report” cried Peterson,
“Heart rate normal, pulse normal, brain wave activity, errr, I think you better take a look at this Dr Peterson,” uttered one of the other scientists.
Peterson again, swiftly headed over to where the operative studying the EE was stood.
“Holy shit,” cried Peterson, it’s gone better than I ever thought it would do, Jesus Christ, will you look at that?”
What Dr James Peterson and the rest of the team were looking at was a never before seen phenomenon, all four Children’s brains were now fully functional as in totally operative, most humans only ever get to use one half of their cerebral capabilities, however in this case the Einstein Enhancer had done it’s stuff and by this achievement alone had surely justified all that massive expenditure needed to fund Project Pandora.
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“Time to find out what the little mites think of their new found capabilities,” said Dr Peterson and he indicated that the four subjects be revived and then it happened!
Just as one of Dr Peterson’s team was about to attach oxygen masks to the Quads all four children’s eyes blinked open.
An alarm sounded on the EE and Dr Peterson quickly glanced round at the four subjects in hand.
The scientist carrying the Oxygen masks froze and then, as though some giant invisible hand had grabbed him by the throat he seemed to just lift up into the air and was subsequently hurled what must have been 30 ft across the Laboratory, crashing into a lifeless heap onto the floor.
That all happened in a split second and even though Dr Peterson’s left hand was lightning quick and heading toward a large red Panic button on his desk, he wasn’t fast enough.
Fingertips only centimetres away from the button, Peterson’s hand stopped dead and then his fingers seemed to bend backwards fashion as though some invisible force had seized them.
Slowly at first and against a background of horrendous screaming from the other scientists, Peterson’s left arm extended as though someone was pulling on it, again, slowly at first, Peterson seemed to spin round, a bit like children do in the school playground, then it speeded up faster and faster until Peterson became almost a white blur, suddenly he was let go and hit the Alpha room wall as if he’d been fired out of a cannon.
The rest of Dr James Peterson’s team didn’t fare any better and amid the crumpled white-jacketed corpses, Greta, Thomas, Joseph and Karl all linked hands, gazing at each other Greta spoke, “I think it’s time we all went home, don’t you?”
The Pentagon Washington DC
Colonel Harry Patterson had just finished a briefing with the Joint Chiefs of Staff when the Bat phone lit up on his office desk. “Shit” uttered Patterson he paused for a few seconds while he looked at the flashing dome.
Colonel Patterson called this particular phone his Bat phone because as akin to the famous movie character this phone was a direct link to a secret place, though in this case not the famous Bat cave it wasn’t far away in the no one else is supposed to know scheme of things.
The colonel reached over and after removing the Perspex dome he quickly snatched the phone off its cradle. “Speak,” uttered Patterson.”
A voice on the other end informed the colonel there had been a security breach regarding Pandora.
Colonel Harry Patterson leapt up off his chair as if he had fire ants in his underpants. “You better be shitting me soldier,” he screamed and immediately asked how.
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“It’s those four kids sir, you know, the freaky quads from Germany.”
Patterson listened to a few more details and said, “where are they now?”
“Well they’re out of the Alpha room sir and heading for, I guess, the main exit.”
The colonel immediately cut in and said, “now you listen to me General, those kids cannot leave the facility do you understand, they’re not allowed to leave that faculty under any circumstances am I clear on that?”
“Am I led to believe I’m to use lethal force if necessary sir?”
“You can believe anything you Goddamn want Soldier but if those kids get away from that mountain I’ll personally have your testicles pickled and served on a fucking Wendy burger do I make myself perfectly crystal on this?”
“Perfectly sir,” and with that last remark the line went dead and Colonel Harry Patterson clunked the dome back over the Bat phone.
The colonel immediately picked up another phone and said, “ Colonel Patterson, get me the ready room,” seconds later Colonel Harry Patterson ex gulf war and Somalia vet had a secure line connection to the President of the United States.
General Andrew (please call me Andy) Sandler hung up the phone and then issued orders for a total lock down at the J Robert Oppenheimer Research centre.
Lock downs were extremely rare and used only as a last resort and although the General absolutely detested what was going on this hell-hole, he had a duty to perform and kids or not, if the order from Washington said shoot to kill then, well, as distasteful as that sounded, he was a serving soldier with the US Rangers and orders were orders after all.
The General picked another phone up and said “where,”
“Monitor 8 sir,” returned the voice on the phone, Sandler immediately flicked a switch in front of him and there, again right in front of him were four ten year old kids.
Sandler sighed, “this ain’t right, they’re only fucking kids man,” he flicked another switch and then spoke into a small desk mic.
“Now hear this, now hear this, we don’t want anymore trouble kids, do you hear?
Turn to look at the camera directly situated behind you if you can hear me.”
Immediately all four Kreutz children turned as one and stared directly into the camera lens in front of them.
“Good, that’s good,” said General Sandler, “now please be seated and wait for the nice soldiers to arrive and take you back to your rooms, do you understand?”
As soon as Sandler had uttered those words the screen on monitor 8 went black and General Andy Sandler cried the words “Oh Fuck.”
Immediately after the monitor screen went blank General Sandler grabbed a walkie-talkie off the desk in front of him.
“Contain and secure level 5 is that understood?”
“Affirmative” barked a voice followed by a burst of static.
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Facing the eight strong squad of US Army Rangers was a locked four-inch thick steel containment door.
The lead ranger radioed for further instructions. “Permission to enter containment room sir,” requested the CO.
“Negative,” replied Sandler, let them cool off a little,” just as the General had uttered those words, he definitely heard the tell tale sound of what sounded like all eight AK 47s being cocked.
Again Sandler barked into the radio, “will someone tell me what the fuck is going on?”
“Errr, we seem to have a situation here sir,” replied a very spooked CO.
“What sort of situation Jennings? They’re all behind a four-inch thick steel door for Christ sakes” cried Sandler.
General Sandler had heard enough, swiftly checking his side arm he leapt up and headed out toward Jennings on level 5.
Adam Jennings just stared in utter disbelief at the 6ft four-inch thick door, as it seemed to bow outwards
“What in the name of Fuck,” cried Jennings, he glanced over at the rest of his squad who even though focused and in the zone were probably just as fucking terrified as he was.
With a horrible groaning sound the steel door crashed off its hinges and as though it was some kind of signal all eight Rangers dropped to their knees, the tension was palpable. “Wait,” shouted Jennings, he keyed the mic on his Walkie Talkie again and said, “we have a contact sir, what are your orders?”
“Hold your fire Jennings I’m almost there,” answered Sandler.
The minute General Sandler entered Level 5 he immediately appraised the situation in front of him.
Crouched and very business like were eight highly trained soldiers and “all” of them had their weapons trained on four ten-year-old kids.
Greta, Thomas, Karl and Joseph walked very slowly towards the crouching Rangers and then suddenly they stopped.
Greta broke hands with her brothers and cocking her head to one side she spoke.
General Sandler waited until Greta had finished and then looking round at his troops said, anyone here speak German?
There was an edgy pause then suddenly, one of the Rangers spoke up, “I do sir, my Grand folks hail from Dussledorf.”
“What’s she saying Stolz, asked Sandler?
“Well, she’s saying all they want to do is go home and see their Mom and Dad sir and that they don’t wanna hurt anybody, can’t say I blame em either.”
“That’s enough Stolz, I asked for a translation not a social report,” replied Sandler curtly. “You tell her we can’t let that happen Stolz, orders are these kids aren’t allowed to leave the base under any circumstances, is that understood?”
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Still with his rifle still trained on Greta’s forehead, Private Eric Stolz grimaced and began to convey in German exactly what his commanding officer had just said.
Greta slowly stepped back and re clasped hands with her three brothers.
Almost in the blink of an eye all eight army rangers turned their AKs on each other and in one short burst it was all over.
As that madness was happening and for some inexplicable reason General Andy Sandler walked swiftly toward Jennings emptying the clip from his Glock into him as he did so. General Sandler looked down at the bullet riddled forms around him and just as he was trying to take in all this madness Greta approached him, gently placing a hand on his forehead General Andrew Sandler screamed himself to death.
The situation room, Whitehouse, Washington DC.
Three men stood waiting patiently as the most powerful man on the planet sipped on a low fat mocha.
Eventually and probably purposely, the 43rd President of the United States asked a question?
“Seems we have what we call in Texas a mess o rattlers gentleman, now which one of you good folks would care to tell me how this came about and more to the point how we can put a lid on it before Katie Couric starts crawling up my butt channel.”
The three men started to shift uneasily, Dr Henry Meyer (head scientist and founder of Project Pandora) Richard Cohen (head of homeland security) and finally Colonel Harry Patterson (department of Defense).
It was Dr Meyer who spoke first.
“ Errrm, we seem to have encountered a sort of complication, errrm with subjects a b c and d sir, but I’m sure the relevant departments will swiftly contain the situation which will enable us to carry on with our, errrm, investigations.”
The commander in Chief swiftly replied and it wasn’t complimentary.
“What you really mean Dr Meyer is that you’ve been screwing around with stuff you don’t really understand and now that the moonshine still’s been knocked over “you” sir want someone else to clean it up, would I be correct on that assumption?”
Meyer started to reply, “well, I wouldn’t necessarily,”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” interjected the President, shuffling some notes then furtively glancing at his wrist watch he cocked a forefinger at Harry Patterson and Richard Cohen then said, “which brings me to you two gentlemen, Richard you go first.”
The head of homeland security cleared his throat and then started to speak.
“Well sir we have established a ten mile containment area immediately surrounding the J Robert Oppenhiemer facility, as well as evacuating any residents errrm witnesses within that particular vicinity, leaving the way clear for my esteemed associate to do whatever it is he has to do.”
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Richard Cohen turned to look at Colonel Harry Patterson as soon as he had finished speaking.
Colonel Patterson stared directly back at the head of homeland security as well as narrowing his eyes, “smug sonafabitch” thought Harry, he didn’t particularly like Richard Cohen or any of his redneck Peckerwood yahoos that “were” the organization called Homeland Security.
Colonel Patterson turned to the president and started to give his account of what was about to happen up there in big sky country.
“As far as we know sir there aren’t any known survivors, well non that we know of,”
“What,” cried the President immediately leaping to his feet, “How?”
Harry Patterson grimaced, why was it always him that seemed to piss off the Commander in Chief and then duly informed his boss everything he knew of what had recently happened at Project Pandora.
“Holy Cow,” uttered the President, “how is this possible, they’re only Kids for Christ sakes,”
“But these are not normal kids sir, indeed they’re extremely dangerous and are already accountable for at least a hundred deaths,” interrupted Colonel Patterson, “which unfortunately is why we have to do what we have to do next.”
Wolf Point, Montana, 25 miles from the Canadian border
Four solitary figures linking hands, walked swiftly down the blacktop highway that hopefully would soon lead them to the Canadian Border and safety.
You’re probably wondering how four ten year old kids, from another country, that speak a foreign language would even know what Canada was let alone have formulated a strategic plan to get there.
Well, as soon as Greta’s hand had made contact with General Sandler she’d not only relieved the General of his life, Greta had also taken everything that was stored inside Sandler’s brain!
You see one of the many abilities the Kreutz children now had, was that they could, once contact had been made, extract any memories or information that had been stored in various neural capacitors inside the human brain.
Not only that, once the extraction was complete, upon linking hands, all four siblings could then transfer the extracted information amongst themselves.
Another amazing ability the Quads had and even before his death Dr Peterson wasn’t aware of this either, Greta, Thomas, Joseph and Karl were “telepathic” disturbingly not just among themselves but with anyone whom should get within a certain distance.
Greta pointed to a large roadside sign that read, welcome to Wolf Point, population 560.
Turning to look at her brother’s they all nodded and then headed toward what looked like a smattering of farm buildings.
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150 miles away two F/A18 Hornets from the Montana National Guard left the runway at Billings, the two aircraft were officially on exercises, unofficially they were looking for four scary looking blond haired kids who apparently had made short work of a crack Rangers unit at the Oppenhiemer research base at Binggs.
Colonel Randy Newman checked the navigational systems on his F/A18 and then seeing everything was how it should be, he glanced out of the cockpit window to give the A OK sign to the accompanying fighter jet.
“How soon to contact,” said a voice in Newman’s headphones?
“E T A approximately five minutes,” replied Newman.
“This sure don’t feel right,” said the other pilot, “no sir, don’t feel right at all.”
“Just concentrate on the mission Kawaski,” replied Newman again, “I know what you’re thinking but there’s more to this than you think and orders are orders after all, understand?”
“Affirmative sir,” answered Kawaski.
An alarm sounded in Newman’s cockpit and the Colonel immediately stated it was show time.
Greta glanced upwards as she heard a sound she’d never heard before, a sort of loud roaring noise coming out of the sky, with a look of concern all four children huddled together whilst nervously still looking up at the sky.
Colonel Newman flipped a switch on his control panel and voice told him that weapons were armed and the target was locked, immediately after that he spoke into a tiny mic attached to his headset.
“ Homestead this is Eagle 1, weapons are live and the target has been acquired, do we have a go situation I repeat do we have a go situation?”
The reply was emphatic. “Eagle 1 this is homestead, affirmative, you have a go go situation, take em out Randy.”
Newman said, “Affirmative” and instantaneously both F/A18s fired all four sidewinders directly toward the four unsuspecting Kreutz children!
Seconds before impact something quite incredible happened.
The four sparrow sidewinder missiles had done what they were supposed to do and locked onto the heat patterns that would naturally radiate from the Quads.
However they didn’t strike they just stopped, astonishingly the four air to ground missiles were literally frozen in mid-air only feet away from the Kreutz children
Glancing at each other they’d simultaneously unclasped hands and after nodding in agreement, Greta, Thomas, Karl and Joseph slowly walked towards the four hovering missiles, at exactly the same time, each sibling then placed a hand on the missile nose cone, spinning the sidewinder round 180º all four Kreutz children after again glancing at one another and yet again in perfect tandem lifted their small hands upwards as if you were about to push someone over.
Immediately all four missiles roared into life and swiftly disappeared into the blue Montana sky.
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Just as Colonel Randy Newman was in the process of making final landing arrangements for Billings an alarm screeched a warning on his computerised flight systems.
Newman couldn’t understand it and stared disbelievingly at the screen in front of him. “Holy Fuck I’ve been targeted, Homestead this is Eagle 1 I have a bogey in pursuit, repeat, I have a bogey in pursuit, ” Newman could hear Kawaski shouting the same thing.
Both Pilots were extremely experienced and had both seen action in Iraq and Afghanistan, however neither pilot had been attacked before by the kind of sophisticated weaponry that was now homing in remorselessly towards the heat signature that encompassed the rear engine.
Just as homestead base screamed orders for evasive manoeuvres, both AIM-sparrow sidewinders slammed into Colonel Newman’s F/A-18 and the resulting fireball completely incinerated both jet and pilot, the exact same thing happened to Kawaski.
Both air traffic controllers at Billings Airbase just silently stared at each other in utter disbelief and at exactly that point a phone rang at the side of them, slowly and with terrible trepidation one of the controllers gingerly picked up the telephone.
Department of Defense HQ, Washington DC
“You’re sure there are no survivors,” said Colonel Patterson to a voice on the other end of the horn, the other voice was quite sure and said that what wreckage “was” recovered you could fit in a shoebox.
Patterson grimaced at that parting remark and after hanging up he turned to face Richard Cohen and Dr Meyer.
“May I ask you a personal question Dr Meyer,” said Harry Patterson?
“sure go ahead,” answered Meyer.
“What in the name of holy fuckery are we up against here Doc, no I mean “really” and you can save the bullshit for the congressional investigation panel so you better start giving “me” some straight answers as of right now and don’t just say “four little bitty kids from Germany cause these four little bitty kids are doin a fuckin number on my guys that would outshine the four horseman of the fucking apocalypse.”
Dr Meyer paused, took off his glasses and then looking Colonel Patterson right in the eye he said, “if I’m being perfectly honest Colonel,” Meyer paused again then after replacing the glasses on his head he sighed heavily and said, “The truth of it is I really don’t know.”
Shortly after that brief outburst in the DOD, Colonel Harry Patterson along with Richard Cohen and of course Dr Henry Meyer boarded a government C-20 from Andrews air force base bound for Billings Montana.
During the four hour flight Harry Patterson, using the jet’s satellite phone gave the president a full briefing of what had happened up there at Wolf Point
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Needless to say the Commander in chief was mortified when he had heard of the two pilot fatalities and had assured Patterson he had all the means necessary at his disposal.
Shortly after finishing the call with the Whitehouse, the Colonel made a few more calls, most of these were to his subordinate’s regarding the Quads whereabouts and after putting the phone down he turned to face Cohen and Meyer.
“Well gentlemen seems we have us a very serious situation and I can’t begin to tell you the ramifications of what’ll happen if the kids from Hell get to the Canadian border.”
He glanced at Cohen, “I take it you’ve extended the “containment” area and I say that word fucking loosely gentlemen given the fact we’ve just lost a squad of US rangers as well as two experienced pilots, not counting the ten million bucks worth of hardware.”
Richard Cohen politely raised his hand in the air and then spoke.
“With all due respect Colonel, we at homeland security aren’t really equipped to deal with something like this and on this scale, you also said yourself these aren’t ordinary kids and I honestly believe the only people capable of dealing effectively with this situation is Dr Henry Meyer and his team.”
Patterson stared long and hard at the head of homeland security and suddenly developed a new found respect for Richard Cohen, that still didn’t take away the fact he was a slimy loathsome motherfucker who had to be watched real close, yes sir, thought Patterson, this dude was the kind of guy who’d put a pillow over his grandmothers face if he thought it would enhance his position in life.
Patterson had seen men like Cohen before, these fuckers weren’t born and raised like you or I they were hatched and then specially bred at places like fucking Harvard and Yale, “yep” concluded Colonel Harry Patterson this fool was one dangerous fucking honky mother.
The Colonel then turned his eyes to “the” man he truly believed was responsible for what seemed like the mother of all impending Shit storms.
“Mr Cohen does have a valid point and that’s why I firmly believe the next play should come from “you” Dr Meyer and the plan I had in mind kinda has the personal touch, if you dig what I’m saying?”
Dr Henry Meyer didn’t dig anything and he really wished Black Americans would stop talking in the stereotypical street vernacular, even a five star Colonel in the US military.
“I errrm, don’t think I really understand what you mean by “the personal touch,” replied Dr Meyer.
“Oh really,” said Patterson, “Well then let me please enlighten you on what I have in mind Dr Meyer.”
Although at that point Patterson was flashing one of his famous “Colgate smiles” the good Doctor wasn’t, indeed, the expression on Henry Meyers face was akin to someone suddenly being told you had a week to live due to a particularly virulent form of stomach cancer, because he now realised what the colonel had in mind by the word “personal.”
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As soon as the missiles had been dispatched and with such deadly consequences, the Kreutz children again after linking hands set off in a straight line towards the nearby tiny hamlet of Wolf Point.
It didn’t take long for the children to find what they were looking for, on approaching the general store all four kids sensed that there wasn’t any impending danger and that meant of course there wasn’t any human presence, however there was one life form around and it now headed toward the quads, head bowed and growling.
The large golden retriever had obviously been left behind to guard the store due to the swift evacuation process, the owners, not willing to take any chances with prospective looters had left the large golden coloured canine to hold the fort.
As the large store protector slowly inched forward toward the four waiting children hair bristling and growling even louder now, another quite incredible moment came to pass.
Instantly all four Kreutz kids, as one dropped to the floor with outstretched arms and the large golden retriever stopped growling, looking rather puzzled the big hound ambled slowly over to where the crouching children were now positioned and noticeably, instead of it’s tale being rigid and straight, it was now wagging furiously as well as vigorously licking all four siblings as if they’d been made of aniseed.
Then an even more astounding event happened.
Gently holding the big mutt’s head in both her hands Greta slowly placed her forehead against the retriever’s warm soft head, nothing happened at first and then suddenly the big dog sprang back, sat down on his haunches and stared directly at the four children, it then began to mewl, punctuated with intermittent yaps.
Yes, incredibly enough the Kreutz quads had probably become the first human beings on the planet to actually converse with another species apart from our own and the big retriever was lapping it up, although Greta and the other three siblings were communicating telepathically, the Golden retriever who’s name incidentally was Bob wasn’t and Bob had a lot to say for himself.
Shortly after that pivotal first contact Bob told, yes told the four Kreutz children where all the food was, he then informed them where “his food was stored as well.
As soon they were all suitably fed and watered and the children had managed to find some change of clothing, luckily for them, the Henderson’s who incidentally owned the store had given birth to six children of mixed gender and because clothing always reminded Mrs Henderson of her children’s earlier years, had kept quite a large stockpile starting from birth right up until they split the nest.
As the quads were about to leave the Henderson store she along with her three brothers turned to say goodbye to Bob.
Stooping down, all four kids thanked Bob for everything and when they got back home, that’s if the nasty army men didn’t stop them from doing so, they would try to send him something to let him know they had arrived ok.
Bob started to mewl again but this time he was crying, he told the Kreutz’s that he didn’t want to leave them after all they had been through and that if they wanted, he would accompany them on this what sounded like a perilous journey.
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Greta softly told Bob that it was far too dangerous and that his place was here, that Bob was already home and one of the reasons that his owners weren’t here was probably down to them, so after four big hugs and a barrage of excited barking, these four amazing children bade goodbye and started off toward what they hoped was a country called Canada and freedom.
As soon they had rounded a bend on the highway, a rather nervous solitary figure came walking towards them, it was then the figure spoke.
“ Hiya kids, remember me?”
The Abbey of Montecassino, Cassino, Italy
Brother Antonia Mantaria looked out of a small window inside his quite austere living quarters.
The view outside, as always was too beautiful for words.
Perched high on a hill, the famous old abbey looked down onto the sprawling white walled, red Umbrian tiled rooftops of the town of Cassino.
Further afield depending in which direction you looked was, in the north, the distant snow capped mountains of the Monti Della Meta and to the south east lay a blue shimmering ribbon which was the Mediterranean sea.
Brother Mantaria pulled back the hood of his Cassock and closed his eyes, inhaling deeply he drew in the sweet rose scented air and immediately thanked the Lord God Almighty for everything he was about to receive that day and in the same breath thanked God for the honour of serving the Holy Father and indeed for the sacred quest he was about to embark on.
Brother Antonia reached down toward the small wooden box in front of him, taking the lid off he re checked all the contents.
One Passport, one economy class return ticket to Billings Montana via Chicago, one thousand American dollars and last but not least the sacred cross.
Gently and still with a sense of reverence Brother Antonia placed his fingers around the ancient seven inch crucifix and slowly raised it to his lips.
“You may put it on now, you know you’re going to have to at some stage my son.” Antonia jumped he hadn’t noticed anyone there; he’d been so wrapped up in the actual realisation of what he was about to undertake.
The Abbot of Montecassino walked slowly over to where Brother Antonia was now standing, gently placing his left hand on Antonia’s right shoulder and then with his right he tenderly lifted Antonia’s chin upwards so the brother’s gaze met the Abbot’s.
Father Abbot Catagalani then spoke softly.
14
“ Do not be afraid my son, for the Lord God almighty also walks this path you have chosen to take and like all the rest of his loyal flock he will protect and guide you.”
Brother Antonia smiled back and then said, “Don’t worry father Abbot, I have no doubt and I know my faith will protect me, I also fully understand that what has to be done has to be done, there is one thing though?”
Father Abbot Catagalani although still smiling, slightly furrowed his brow in a sort of mock consternation and then replying said,
“Oh and what would that be my brave Brother?”
Antonia’s gaze momentarily left the Abbot’s and landed on the old brass crucifix he was still clutching and then he looked again into the Abbot’s unwavering gaze.
“I know we’ve been through everything, you know, the scriptures, the prophecy and everything else but,”
“Go on,” prompted Father Abbot Catagalani.
Brother Antonia paused for a few more seconds and then said.
“What happens when I meet them, what happens when I finally come face with the children of the one God cast from heaven, Father Abbot?”
Father Abbot Catagalani immediately grasped hold of both of Antonia’s shoulders and with another reassuring smile glanced in the direction of the old crucifix and said.
“Have no fear child, “he” will tell you what you have to do when the time comes, of that you can be assured.”
Twenty-four hours later a rather dishevelled and slightly jet-lagged Monk from the Abbey of Montecassino landed at Billings international airport.
Shortly after clearing customs and immigration Brother Antonia Mantaria checked himself into a travel lodge motel and also made arrangements for a hire car.
As soon as Antonia had made himself comfortable, using the motel room phone he made a long distance call.
Again with further reassurances from Father Abbot Catagalani, Brother Antonia formulated a plan as to how he would find the four children of the apocalypse.
He knew from the Monasteries spies or supporters, as Father Catagalani preferred to call them, that there had been some military activity up in a place called Binggs and according to an inside source, that location seemed to be where the American scientists were holding “The Four.”
Antonia pulled out a map that was near to him and studied the terrain, apparently again according to certain sources, there had been a 26 km exclusion zone set up around this base thus all roads would inevitably be blocked, so how in the world was he expected to even get near to the target in hand, it was at that point the phone in the motel room rang.
15
6am the following day and on exiting a large black SUV he just stared in stunned silence.
“Do you really expect me to go up in the air in “that,” cried an utterly astounded Brother Antonia?
The phone call to the motel room was from Brother Trevor Grishom, who hailed from one of the many Benedictine orders scattered about the United States and Canada.
Brother Trevor had already foreseen the problems caused by the Homeland security exclusion zone and as such had made suitable alternative arrangements.
“Ain’t she beautiful,” shouted a beaming Brother Trevor, I’d go up in her myself if I could,” continued the elated Brother.
Brother Antonia walked slowly toward the huge hot air balloon that sat directly in front of him.
The huge billowing canopy was attached to a two-metre square wicker basket by four long thick guide ropes, inside the basket was a square metal frame and fitted to the middle of the frame were two burner jets.
Brother Trevor made a whooping sound akin to that of a Native American and subsequently leapt into the basket, making a beckoning motion he signalled to brother Trevor to join him. A little hesitant at first and with understandable trepidation the young Benedictine monk edged ever nearer towards the now rocking basket.
“Perfect,” shouted Brother Trevor as he put a forefinger in his mouth and then stuck it up in the air.
“We have ourselves a prevailing wind and according to this,” he showed Brother Antonia a small dial along with a series of other similar dials attached to the bottom of the steel frame, “it’s a nice steady 10 knots, which is terrific for a novice like yourself, no offence.”
“Non taken,” replied Brother Antonia, almost mechanically as he slowly, bit by bit stepped into the hot air balloon basket.
As soon Antonia had crept into the basket, Brother Trevor leapt out, thrusting a ordinance survey map into Antonia’s hand Brother Trevor turned and pointed to a large metal lever situated near the instrument dials. “See that lever?”
Antonia nodded, “well turn it clockwise,” instructed Brother Trevor, Antonia did as he was told and as soon as he turned the dial clockwise a huge orange flame jetted upwards and into the canopy.
Brother Antonia leapt backwards in surprise and Brother Trevor hollered, “Whoa there Nelly, nice and easy.
To operate one a these things is real easy, look,” he made a turning motion with his left hand and said.
“Clockwise the flames fire up and “you” go up, no flame and “you” go down and don’t worry it’ll be a slow decent, believe it or not” and he waved upwards at the balloon envelope, “these things are a lot safer than aeroplanes,” at that point Brother Trevor motioned at the map Brother Antonia was clutching to his chest and said.
16
“I’ve circled where you need to come down, once you see the bridge you’ll see a small collection of buildings to the right of it, that’s Wolf Point, the kids were last seen heading north from there, probably toward Canada.” Brother Trevor then grabbed hold of a large rucksack and placed it inside the basket.
“You better check everything’s there,” said Brother Trevor and he pointed at the rucksack. Brother Antonia kneeled down and swiftly inspected the contents, noting everything was in order he turned to inform Brother Trevor he had everything he needed.
Brother Antonia nearly fainted, as he was inspecting the rucksack he hadn’t noticed Brother Trevor sneakily cutting the anchor lines that were holding the huge balloon in place.
“Holy Mother of God,” cried Brother Antonia, he must have already reached a hundred metres above the ground.
A voice shrilled up from below, “don’t worry Brother Antonia, you’ll be fine and remember, clockwise is up, may the Lord God be with you.”
Antonia hadn’t heard the last bit, he was too busy praying.
Five minutes later and on finally daring to open his eyes, Brother Antonia decided he had to be brave; he “was” on the ultimate quest when all said and done.
Still in the kneeling position he slowly peeked out and over the edge of the basket.
Instantly a wave of nausea swept over the young Benedictine monk thus immediately retracting back into the basket not dissimilar to a startled Tortoise.
Eventually the intrepid monk finally found the fortitude needed to get through his crippling fear of heights, holding the cross of St Benedict close to his heart, Brother Antonia started to chant the words to psalm 23.
“The lord is my shepherd I shall not want.
He maketh me lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul he leadeth me in paths of righteousness for his names sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will feel no evil, for though art with me,
Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
After finishing the rest of the psalm Brother Antonia suddenly felt a whole lot better and armed with the knowledge and the fact that God was with him 100% on this venture, almost with relish he stood up, looked at the map and then stared down at what must have been a thousand metres between him and the ground.
Turning to the large metal lever, Brother Antonia grasped hold of it and with a whoop of delight a huge burst of flame erupted out of the propane cylinders and with what seemed like being inside a high speed elevator the huge balloon rocketed upwards to a dizzying 2,000 metres.
17
The Abbey of Montecassino, Cassino, Italy
Shortly after evensong, Father Abbot Catagalani retired to his quarters.
Extracting a large book off one of the many shelves he blew away any excess dust and after pouring a drop of his favourite home-made mead he settled himself down to re think the latest events regarding the Doomsday quest.
Opening page 16 of the ancient tome he silently perused the doomsday prophecies and how they would come to pass. Catagalani suddenly chuckled to himself, reading through the page he wondered what Nostradamus himself would have given for a peek at this priceless collection of scriptures, indeed, word had it this particular book was older than Benedict himself.
There where a lot of prophecy’s indicating when the world would end and most people didn’t take any of them seriously, but the one prophecy that had been kept away and out of sight from the rest of mankind was this one.
“EA QUATTUOR” loosely translated; in English it meant “The Four.”
The rest of the prophecy told of a second coming, though not by Jesus Christ, but of the Dark Angel’s spawn. The Devil, Lucifer, Hob, there are many many names describing and pertaining to “the one who was cast out.”
Reading through the very old scribes the prophecy indicated there would be a catastrophic ending to the world that the Holy Father had created and only “The Four” would be left to inherit, quite literally, a new Hell on earth.
The prophecy went on to say there was only one possible way to prevent the impending Armageddon and that was, using the sacred cross of Christ the St. Benedict, a monk, pure of faith and pure of body along with an unbroken line of ancestry linking directly to St. Benedict himself had to confront and purge the four demon spawn from the earth.
That was of course Brother Antonia, but what Father Abbot hadn’t told Brother Antonia was, this was a one-way trip!
The prophecy also told of an apocalyptic style confrontation of which there would be “no” survivors, Catagalani wasn’t sure whether that meant the four children and poor Brother Antonia or indeed the whole planet.
Catagalani pushed back in the large leather chair and sighed audibly, keeping this kind of secret from the rest of the world had indeed been a very heavy burden to take, but one that the order of Benedictine monks had been proud to have undertaken through out the centuries and now like everything else, it looked like the stage was set and the final curtain was about to descend.
Father Abbot Catagalani raised his pewter tankard of mead and making a toast, he said. “God speed my brave young knight and may God, the father and the Holy Ghost have mercy on all our souls.
Just at that moment a telephone rang and the Abbot swiftly picked it up.
The voice on the other end was Brother Trevor and after quickly updating Catagalani regarding brother Antonia and the hot air Balloon, Catagalani hung up.
“So,” said Father Abbot Catagalani, to no one in particular, “like Caesar in the coliseum of Ancient Rome, “let the games begin.”
18
All four children froze at the sight in front of them.
Dr Henry Meyer also stopped; both parties were roughly fifty feet away from each other and there followed a sort of uneasy stand off.
Henry Meyer made the first call.
“Look kids, this has gotton a little out of hand I know, but it’s nothing that can’t be resolved peaceably, what do you say?”
Dr Meyer, under instructions from Colonel Patterson, though he really didn’t want to, edged ever nearer toward the four Kreutz kids.
The idea being as soon as the doctor had gained the children’s trust he would, using a high-powered pistol secreted in the Doctor’s rear waistband, shoot all four quads with extremely powerful tranquilliser darts.
After that I’m afraid it would be a cremation chamber, there was to be no traces of these four unfortunate children, indeed as of yesterday Project Pandora had been abandoned and the cremation chambers that would soon be introduced to the quads had already been working overtime with all the original inhabitants at the J Robert Oppenhiemer facility. Nearer and nearer thought Henry, just need to get close enough, there couldn’t be any room for failure and when he was right up to the little darlings *BAM* and then at last they could put a lid on this whole affair and Meyer was sure the military had lots of other weird and wonderful projects he could get his hands on.
Dr Henry Meyer was only six feet away now and he continued to “think” how he was going to dispatch all four kids, indeed, Meyer smugly thought to himself, you could use all the military muscle you liked, but at the end of the day brains” were always superior to brawn.
However what Dr Henry Meyer didn’t know was, all four Kreutz kids were telepaths and the thoughts Meyer were “thinking” may just have well have been broadcast on a megaphone.
Three feet now and as Dr Meyer continued to sooth and reassure the Kreutz children everything was all right, all four quads just watched, totally motionless and all four pairs of eyes locked on the approaching scientist.
Then Meyer, still “thinking” and deciding he was now near enough, quickly reached round to his waistband for the powerful stun gun.
However, Dr Henry Meyer when all said and done, was a scientist not a professional assassin and in his haste to grab the gun handle he inadvertently knocked the weapon out of his pants and onto the blacktop highway.
Meyer gasped in horror and looking at the offending pistol cried out. “Kids it’s not what you really think, “they” made me do it,” as he screamed those words he jabbed a finger in the opposite direction and carried on pleading, “them” I tell you, they used me to get to you, just like they used “you.”
Meyer glanced in the direction of the gun again; it was only a couple of feet away, maybe just maybe?
WHAM!! the gun disappeared, it was as if some giant had run up to it and with an almighty kick, booted the stun gun as hard as it could.
19
Dr Meyer just gaped in utter amazement as the stun gun disappeared into a tiny speck on the horizon.
Henry Meyer tried to run, but he couldn’t, the kids wouldn’t allow it and as what seemed like some irresistible crushing force rooted Meyer to the spot, Greta slowly advanced toward the now terrified Doctor.
After being allowed to sink to his knees as well as the fact he would be at the same level as Greta, the only female member of “the four” gently placed her left hand on the Doctor’s forehead and Dr Henry Meyer not only surrendered his life he also surrendered his very soul.
Fort Bellknap, US Army command post, 15 miles from the Canadian border
“Well?” said Colonel Harry Patterson.
An operator wearing headphones opposite responded.
“Nothing sir, signal isn’t responding and according to SVTS (Satellite visual tracking systems) the four subjects have carried on heading toward the border area, just a minute sir something else coming in now.”
Colonel Patterson glimpsed over toward where Richard Cohen was seated, "he" was looking at his nails.
Unbelievable, thought Patterson, Cohen was either the world’s coolest spook, or he was one cunning opportunist motherfucker, just waiting for "him" Patterson as well as Meyer to bite the fucking dust, which according to the satellite guys is what just happened to Meyer.
“I wonder what they did to him sir?”
Said Cohen, incredibly still admiring his recent manicure.
The Colonel swiftly replied, “Well if it’s anything like what they found at Binggs, the poor fucker’s had his brains sucked out.”
This was the first time that Richard Cohen had known what the Kreutz children had actually done to General Sandler and a smiling Harry Patterson knew this.
Needless to say, the head of homeland security had now given his undivided attention to the man in charge.
“ I really think it’s time we laid all our cards on the God damn table Richard,” announced the Colonel.
The head of homeland security didn’t like the way his boss referred to him as Richard that meant familiarity, which meant personal involvement and if the last case scenario was anything to go by, well?
A still smiling Colonel Patterson was enjoying seeing the look on Cohen’s face, even given the serious nature of what was going on, watching the slimy fucker squirm almost gave him wood.
20
“No need to worry Cohen you ain’t goin out there on your lonesome, I’ll be with you every step of the way, not sure why, cause every movie I’ve ever seen it’s always the Brother that gets killed or fuckin eaten first.”
There were a few suppressed guffaws around the command centre, though with one noticeable absentee.
Richard Cohen was mortified, this wasn’t what he signed up for, they never told him this at Yale, that he’d be out in the field, dealing with the devil’s fucking children, getting your brains sucked out, what in the fuck was all that about?
Just as Richard Cohen was battling his own demons before it was highly likely he’d meet some in real life, a call came through from the operators.
“We got us a bogey sir, bearing 25º north and 30º east.”
“Which is?” said an impatient Colonel with outstretched hands.
“Well sir,” said a nervous radar operator, it’s kinda heading in the same direction as those kids.”
“Do “we” know what “it” is,” said an increasingly pissed Colonel, he didn’t like the idea of any unidentified fucking objects crashing his party.
The radar operator slowly and cautiously replied and said.
“Errrm, it’s a balloon sir, a hot air balloon.”
Brother Antonia had really gotten the hang of this now and had long since vanquished his fear of heights.
He’d spotted the bridge and had now begun the decent into the target area.
Antonia’s stomach knotted a little, possibly in anticipation of the long awaited confrontation, but knowing God was with him all the way gave him sustenance.
Then the helicopter appeared. It came out of nowhere, a large black contraption, not dissimilar to a large angry looking wasp.
The machine buzzed around the balloon and then a man suddenly appeared in one of the sliding doors, holding what looked like a large megaphone.
He then started to speak through it.
“Give me the thumbs up if you hear and understand?”
Antonia had been warned by Brother Trevor this might happen, “just play dumb,” said Brother Trevor, “just tell em you’re on a quest to seek absolution and being thousands of feet in the air was as close to God you were ever gonna get while still breathing.”
Brother Antonia gave the thumbs up sign and then the man with the megaphone spoke again.
“You have entered a restricted area and you must put down immediately, failure to comply will be met with zero tolerance, do you understand?”
Brother Antonia had little choice in the matter, the helicopter was of the military type and as such was armed, he couldn’t outrun it and he couldn’t fight it, so the only logical thing to do was explain to whoever was in command what he was actually trying to do and hope they understood.
21
Fort Bellknap, two hours later
Colonel Harry Patterson was wearing the same expression as you would have if you’d suddenly been told your winning lotto ticket had the correct winning numbers but the wrong day.
He continued to stare at the young Benedictine monk.
“ So let’s just go through this one more time, cause you see I stopped believing in fucking fairy tales after middle school, you feeling me boy?”
Brother Antonia was in shock; with living constantly inside the protective walls of the Abbey he’d never been subjected to the kind of profanity that was now spewing from this large black man’s mouth.
“It is the truth sir,” answered Brother Antonia, he continued on.
“You have to let me confront those Devil’s, if you don’t it will be too late for all of us.” Harry Patterson just continued to stare and shake his head, then he spoke up.
“If and believe you me this is a fucking big if, I were to let you lose on those four little fuckers, what in the hell is it that you can do that two F/A18s and squad of rangers couldn’t?”
At that point the Colonel walked over to towards Brother Antonia and slowly, looked him up and down from head to toe.
“I’m waiting,” pressed Patterson.
Brother Antonia produced the crucifix of Christ the St. Benedict and slowly holding it aloft for all to see, he said.
“I bear the ultimate weapon, the Lord’s will and my faith are all that’s needed to defeat EA QUATTOURE.”
Thomas suddenly stopped and then broke off from the rest of the other siblings.
Greta, Karl and Joseph looked on in silence.
Walking over to the side of the black top highway Thomas knelt down and slowly put his fore head to the ground as if he were praying.
After a few seconds Thomas suddenly jolted his head back and screamed!
Still, all this time the other three Kreutz children continued to stare in impassive silence, even when the screaming started.
As sudden as it started, the screaming stopped and Thomas slowly lifted his head up, clutching handfuls of earth, he started to chant in some sort of long forgotten tongue.
Greta along with Karl and Joseph advanced slowly toward the still chanting Thomas, all four Kreutz children then linked hands and all four children were now chanting as one in complete unison and the chanting steadily increased both in volume and intensity.
22
While all this was happening on the ground, what was previously a beautifully clear Montana sky had now turned overcast, indeed what seemed like storm clouds had gathered and as the terrible ungodlike chanting increased even further in tempo, lightning bolts suddenly appeared, first one then two and then they were everywhere.
To anyone witnessing this unholy scene, would have seen four very scary looking children all joining hands and what was particularly terrifying?
The children’s appearance was changing, they were changing; it was as if they were passing through some form of metamorphosis.
All the blond hair had gone, what was skin had now turned to scales and both hands and feet had become claw like, but the thing that really set these children apart in the shock factor were “the eyes.”
Well the thing was, there weren’t any eyes there, just narrow slits and as black as night, a truly horrifying spectacle.
The chanting suddenly stopped and the lightning subsided, unclasping hands the four, well, what were children all crouched down in a sort of heightened state of alert, a kind of hissing sound emanated from their mouths accompanied with a horrible snake like tongue flicking in and out, it seemed like the four were communicating with each other, audibly though this time not telepathically.
Suddenly in a sort of knowing, purposeful look, all four once children bounded off to all four points of the compass and at an alarming rate of knots.
A look of dread filled Brother Antonia’s eyes as he looked out of the command station window.
He swiftly turned to Colonel Patterson and said, “NOW do believe me Colonel?”
Harry Patterson shrugged his shoulders and flippantly said, “it’s only a cloud burst pal, ain’t nothing to worry your little head about.
A determined Brother Antonia strode over to where the Colonel was and said, “oh really sir, have you looked outside Colonel?”
Harry Patterson groaned audibly and rudely pushing Antonia to one side, strode toward the window. “Well fuck me sideways, ain’t that a sumbitch.”
Patterson was awestruck; he’d never quite seen anything like what he was seeing now.
The sky had gone all weird looking, like it was on fire or something and it felt like someone had just turned the heat up by about 30°.
“What in the fuck is going on?”
Cried a quite stupefied Colonel Harry Patterson.
“It’s started,” murmured Brother Antonia.
“What’s fuckin started,” cried Patterson.
“The joining,” Brother Antonia carried on. “The four have been in contact with the fallen one and I’m afraid they now know who they really are and if you think they were dangerous before, well” and Antonia joined Patterson at the window, “well now they’re unstoppable and I’m afraid it’s all too late, for all of us, the apocalypse is upon us.
23
THE CONCLUSION
Brother Antonia was in fact quite correct and even if he had been able to confront EA QUATTOURE he probably wouldn’t have been able stop them.
The four had not only morphed into demon kind as their birthright foretold, they had also physically grown to full size.
Nothing could stop them.
As each demon child had headed for the four points of the compass, devastation ensued, no amount of man-made force could halt their plans for absolute rule and it only became a matter of time before and in one last desperate attempt to stop the four, man used nuclear weapons.
All this did was speed up the process of Armageddon.
And so it came to pass, as the prophecy correctly foretold, all four (ONCE) children, triumphant and now supreme rulers of a brand new “Hell on Earth.”
Man had initially presumed the reasons for this cataclysmic end had been due to the experiments at the base, opening up Pandora’s box so to speak.
Abducting children and then performing ghastly experiments on them and all in the name of science, was I suppose only ever going to end badly.
However out of all the one in a million super kids that were used as guinea pigs, these children were “always” going to do what they were destined to do, no matter what.
The only possible hope lay with the monks of Montecassino, however even though they had been closely tracking the kreutz children, as soon as the abduction happened, courtesy of Project Pandora, they of course disappeared off the radar and thus robbing the Benedictine order of Montecassino their only chance of preventing the inexorable conclusion.
Picture this?
The sky is on fire, the world is burning and there are scenes of utter devastation everywhere.
Walking slowly toward me are four huge figures, covered in orange coloured scales and horrible black slits that pass for eyes.
I stand there, rooted to the spot in terror and as the four horrific looking creatures get nearer and nearer I can actually see forked tongues flicking out of what I suppose you could call mouths.
Closer and closer until finally, a crushing force pushes me into the kneeling position, looking up, one of the creature’s leans toward me and reaching slowly forward, it places a claw like hand on my forehead and I scream, !!!!AARRRGH!!!!
THE END
