John Frum The Reluctant Messiah

You Fight You Survive

Em peered back into the room where they were preparing to push the Nephilim remains into the furnace. The roar of the furnace as they opened the heavy, cast iron door seemed to have saved them. Ethan leaned against the wall breathing a sigh of relief- they had apparently gone unnoticed. 

BOOM!

Suddenly the room exploded as a huge arm broke through the wallboard and wrapped itself around Ethan's neck. His horrified, wide eyed expression shocked Em and John into a momentary paralysis. In an instant, he was gone. It had pulled him back through the wall with such force that it created a hole larger than the actual doorway itself. 

Ethan's screams became muffled as the beast squeezed his neck with greater force. Em was first to jump through the hole, John following closely behind. She immediately launched into her college self-defense course yelling, "Eyes! Nose! Throat! Groin!" with each strike she made. 

It had no effect whatsoever on the giant and Ethan was beginning to turn red, gasping for air. John picked up a large wooden clamp from a nearby table and swung it onto the side of  the giant's knee. It worked enough to drop the brute to one knee, but hes till hadn't loosened his grip on Ethan's neck. With his other hand he grabbed a hold of John's collar and now both were in his clutches. Ethan clawed and bit with what little strength he had left and still he refused to let go. Em had run out of ideas and simply jumped on his back preparing to ride him like an agitated bull at the county fair rodeo. He struggled under the weight of three grown adults globbing themselves on to him but seemingly defying the laws of physics and all things normal, he was still able to stand. 

At the same time Em reached out and grabbed the closest thing available, a generous length of yellowed, gauzy fabric and wrapped it around his monstrous neck. For all she knew, it could have been the Shroud of Turin but right then and right there it didn't matter a whit. 

She grabbed it, twisted it, wrapping it around her wrists and with all her might, reared back trying desperately to choke the very life out of him. She somehow managed to hoist herself up and wrap her legs around his neck, locking her ankles and was now dangling upside down on his enormous back.He began to spin attempting to throw them off. But not a normal  turning- he was somehow able to spin himself beyond any earthly human capacity and the resulting centrifugal force quickly did its job. 

Ethan was the first to go. Em was next, flying off and across the floor and under a worktable . Her face contorted from the blow of hitting the wall. John was able to hang on a bit longer, but it certainly  didn't help him any. He flew off even faster towards one of the shelving units holding several fifty-pound bags of plaster of Paris. He hit the front leg of the shelving unit with his shoulder hard enough that the leg snapped, causing the shelving unit to list to one side like a badly leaking ship and began dumping the heavy bags one by one directly onto John's head. 

John was now curled up on the floor, unconscious and covered in a mountain of fine, white dust. Again. 

The Neph, now free of his human baggage, stood staring at the white lump John had become and squinted while shaking his head, trying to clear his dizziness. For the first time he was vulnerable and Ethan and Em both knew it.  Without so much as a word, Ethan looked at Em, looked at the huge furnace and in an instant shoved the gurney into the backs of his over-sized legs. At the same time, Em leapt from her hiding spot and in midair, grabbed two handfuls of his thick, black hair slamming his head down onto the metal gurney. With one final push, Em lept from the gurney and watch as it banged into the metal incinerator.

The Neph still on his back, rolled into the fiery furnace and disappeared in the flames. The horrific sound of a large, screaming animal pierced the dusty air and went on for what seemed like an eternity. Em used a metal broom handle to close the red-hot door hoping to stifle the screams. Sparks and embers swirled as she managed to slam the door shut. 

"What the...What was.... You said these guys were dead!!?  coughed Ethan.

"Grab the valise! It's got the scroll in it," Em shouted at Ethan. 

She immediately went to John who had since come to and was holding his head, moaning.

 "Floating access points. Certain times, certain locations," John muttered almost incoherently. "I remember." 

Em knelt on the floor, staring in disbelief at the now white John. John met her gaze. 

"What?" 

"Oh my God!" she said. She instinctively recoiled, dropping his head the few inches to the floor. 

"I remember too! You were there!"she said pointing at him, "You're... you're John Frum!" 

"Geez, not you too!" said John in exasperation. 

But Em's expression was not one of admiration and awe so often displayed by the villagers of Tanna, but one of downright disdain and betrayal. Suddenly the fire suppression system came on instantly soaking the trio. 

"We've got to go!" Ethan yelled at the pair over the piercing alarm bells. 

"Here's our chance," John told them. "Quick, Em, grab the valise. We can blend in with everyone else. They'll be looking for three. Ethan, you head out the loading dock. Keep your head down and make your way home. I'll call first chance we get. Em and I'll ditch the lab coats, head upstairs and head out with the rest of the tourists. Go!" 

As John and Em emerged out into the cavernous lobby, the chaotic crowd surged towards the front doors. Two men stood head and shoulders above the crowd, their ill-fitted suits barely able to contain them and were holding a photograph, frantically scanning the mass of people. They were looking for someone. In all likelihood, them. 

The indoor downpour worked in their favor however, turning everyone's hairdo into the same sloppy mess. The pair covered their faces and heads with their guide maps and scurried to the door, being sure to bunch up with a group of ninth graders on a field trip. 

"Stay together everyone!" Em shouted, doing her best to sell their disguise. Soon they found daylight, heading down a block to snag a cab ahead of the soaking crowd.