John Frum The Reluctant Messiah

Meeting Em

Ethan had just gotten off his shift at the University's sleep center. His new job involved spending four hours watching other classmates sleep and record brainwave activity as they dreamt. It was a requirement for his post grad degree but the real reason, truth be known, was Emily Stroud. Watching Emily Stroud sleep on an antiquated black and white monitor was about as good as it got for Ethan. It was also about as close as he would ever get to spending any time in the sheets with her.

Ethan's hand was on the door of his new Nissan Cube when John's 16-year-old Volvo 850R rattled and groaned to a stop in the space next to him.

"Yo! Brotha', wazzup?!" Ethan said as he leaned back on his Cube.

"Ya' know," John said, pointing at him, "It's gettin' better. Gettin' better. That sounded authentically black."

Ethan scowled and slowly raised his hoodie up. With a deadpan look and in his best gangsta voice he threatened John.

"I will cut chu." Completely unfazed John moved the convo along.

"How's Emily?"

"Oh dude, I think I'm really starting to communicate with her- telepathically of course."

"Of course." John replied.

"I mean about 20 minutes into her REM cycle I started putting out my vibe, ya' know, and she honest to God started thrashing. Proof positive, my friend. She wants me. She wants me bad. I mean it was...You don't care, do you?"

"Ehh, not so much." They both laughed.

"So, when did you get my text that the trip was delayed?" asked Ethan.

"Right when I got back...to civilization...and Wi-Fi," laughed John.

"Oh man, I am sooo sorry. Jay said it's supposed to happen late next week. It's messed up... a whole forty-foot container's worth of baby formula just sittin' on that runway in that hot sun. What a waste... you still in?"

"Oh, yeah. Hey, what do you know about Nephilim?" John asked.

"Wait, what? What went on over there? I haven't seen you since-"

"It's a long story- an extremely long, weird.... loooong story that I promise I will tell you- but first, what do you know about Nephilim?"

"Nephilim?" Ethan replied. "Oooo spooky time. Yeah. Giants...... giants from Biblical times. Why?"

"I might've just seen one."

Ethan looked away, then looked side to side the same way someone does when they're about to make a politically incorrect comment, assuring no one else was close enough to hear.

"Oh! yeah, ugh.... hmmmm. Ya' might just want to keep that to yourself. You're not still on that night at the Witch, are ya'?"

"No. Yeah, no, not really. What, what exactly are they?"

"Besides real scary?" Ethan answered. "Descendants of Satan dude. Fallen angels. Deep stuff here."

"Yeah?" John looked at him, waiting for him to continue.

"See, when Satan branched out on his own with his little... corporate takeover, thinking he could do a better job of creation than God? About a third of the angels went with 'em. It didn't take 'em long to discover what we all know- earth chicks are hot. And what girl can resist a bad boy angel, eh John?"

John smirked and rolled his eyes.

"Before long everybody's knockin' boots doin' the monkey dance and, voile'... the spawning of Nephilim. Big dudes, big, big, very powerful- not too bright but crazy strong. Remember David and Goliath? Well, there 'ya go. Nephilim. Really mean Nephilim too. Before long you've got the buggers all over the place... all according to plan."