Twice Loved at Armageddon

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Three 

Driving rain saturated Scott as he lay amid the deafening thunder and automatic rifle fire.  The terrorists must have assumed him to be dead as they slogged past his prostrate body.  The slight ground vibration when they passed was enough to flood him with adrenalin, but the next lightning strike made his heart jump.  Against the camouflage net in the background, the silhouettes of four terrorists were closing on Farah.  She dropped one in his tracks but ran out of ammo.

   There wasn’t time to think.  Leaving his cumbersome pack with ammo, Scott grabbed his rifle and ran toward her. Instinct, with no thought of his own survival, governed his next act as he closed on the remaining three.  He shouted.

                                                            “Farah!”

   If they had a full load, they needed but to blow him away.  But he caught the first one with his rifle butt against his back.  He fell to the ground as the other two turned toward Scott.  In the dark they were so startled that they must have assumed several defenders behind them. The nearest attacker fired wild at Scott before running out of ammo.  When Scott made a desperate lunge with his rifle, the attacker hit his head with a glancing blow with his rifle butt.  He fell to the ground unconscious.

   Scott’s quick action gave Farah time to reload.  She cut down the two terrorists turned around just as they turned around toward her.  The attacker that Scott had disabled crawled away.

   The first thing Scott saw when he opened his eyes was Farah at his side smiling with his hand in hers.  She was wearing her wedding dress without a veil or headgear.

   “Farah!” he shouted, reaching out and pulling her into his arms.  “Thank God the terrorists didn’t kill you!   I had been so worried!”

   It was as though they had been separated for a hundred years, such was their embrace.  Their kisses were long and passionate.  Between tears of happiness, each proclaimed undying love for the other.

   Resuming their mutual embrace, she said, “We’re together at last, my husband.”

   “Oh, my lovely wife, our trials are ended.  Now we’re together forever.”

   They returned and sat arm in arm on the edge of the bed.  He looked over and kissed her on the left forehead.  He asked, “What happened, my love?  Was it a dream?”

   She smiled and said, “If it was, I had the same one:  your saving me from zealots, and raising me from slavery and out of my prison of anger,  our intense, wonderful love and marriage with the blessing of the Baptizer.  Your wise, persistent nurture to give me the confidence and the status I now enjoy.  Jerusalem, the Pyramids, Athens, Rome, Flavius and Corrina, who became my adoptive parents.  Look at your cell phone.”  On it was the picture he took of them on Mount Gilboa just before Barabbas attacked them.

   Farah helped Scott to his feet and led him to the window.  There she opened the blind, revealing their beautiful Valley of Armageddon in the distance.  In the foreground to their left stood the ancient ruins of their former home, the one Flavius gave her as an inheritance.

   Again he drank of those dark eyes that always gave him delight.  She kissed him again and began to speak.  It was as if she had been on death row and just got her stay from the governor.

   “The last five years have been filled with incredible memories and near despair after I found myself here.  Since then I waited and waited and waited.  Would you come back at all?  Would you ever know me?  To ease my burden I went to places we shared such joy.  I walked the ancient markets in Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Bet Shean.  I watched Casablanca because it made me feel closer to you.”