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Chapter 15

  "How the heck did they know we were coming?", Josh exclaimed, pulling out of the driveway.

   "I don't know", Zane said slowly. He was relieved to be in the car instead of the house. "Did you tell anyone about coming here?"

   "No way!", Josh answered. "I only told you. I don't post everything I do online."

   Zane just stared at him. "You post what you eat and what the kids do at your school every day."

   "Well... I... okay, I admit to that, but I didn't post it on Facebook. Or any social media site. I didn't even text anybody about it."

   Zane sighed. "I didn't say anything to anyone either." He paused. "So how did they know that we were going to be there? They called us by name."

   "I know", Josh shivered. "That gave me the tingles." He nodded toward Zane's feet. "Maybe your book has something to say about it?"

   Zane looked down. He had forgotten he'd left the book in the car. "It might", he said. He picked it up and opened it to where he'd left off. "This section is called The Seven Trumpets."

   Josh nodded. "That doesn't sound too bad. Trumpets were usually used to announce someone's arrival."

   "Let's not get our hopes up", Zane mumbled.

"Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up."

   "Okay, maybe these trumpets aren't announcing someone's arrival", Josh breathed.

   "Yeah", Zane agreed. "More like they're announcing death and destruction." He continued reading.

"The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed."

   "Whoa! That's kind of extreme, don't you think?", Josh commented.

   "I guess so", Zane answered. "Maybe it's like what those people say about everything on earth being destroyed every few million years?"

   "Possibly", Josh replied, "but none of those guys ever mentioned anything about there being a god involved. Besides, that group broke up almost two years ago." He nodded toward the book. "Keep reading."

   Zane nodded and continued.

"The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter."

   Wormwood. Why does that sound familiar?

   "Wormwood!"

   Josh slammed his foot on the brakes. Both Zane and Josh lurched forward from their seats, but were stopped by their seat belts. "What?", Zane asked, clutching the handle of his door. "Josh, what's wrong?"

   Josh looked pale; just as pale as when they had heard the police call out his name. "I.... what did it say it did?"

   "It said a star called Wormwood would make one-third of the waters bitter. Why, what's-"

   "That's already happened", Josh blurted out.

   Zane blinked in surprise. "What do you mean it's already happened?", he asked. He saw that Josh's knuckles were now white from gripping the steering wheel.

   "Remember last month", Josh answered slowly, "when we all saw the giant meteor come down from space, and we didn't know where it landed?"

   Zane nodded. "Yeah, I remember. The whole world saw it."

   Josh nodded. "The next day, reports from all over said that certain reservoirs and lakes were 'too bitter' for people to drink." He paused. "Already five hundred people in America have died from drinking from those areas."

   Zane swallowed hard, trying to push back the lump in his throat. "What parts?", he asked slowly.

   Josh's voice shook as he answered. "Florida, Hawaii, Texas, New Mexico, Tennessee....all the southern states that are right next to the ocean." He paused again. Zane could hear Josh's breath shaking, like he was cold. "They never said it was the meteor that caused the waters to become bitter, but they did say it fell in the ocean. They even found a bunch of dead fish all floating around the area where they think it crashed."

   Zane suddenly felt light-headed. He remembered looking through the news on his phone the day after the meteor crashed. He was looking for news on the meteor and had passed some things about Florida's water going bad, but he had scrolled past it, thinking, It's probably just another weird event that will be fixed soon. It was that day when he found on Facebook that someone was calling the meteor Wormwood. He didn't know why it was called that, but the name sounded pretty cool.

   Why was I too stupid not to notice?

   Looking down at the book, he stared at it's simple white pages and finely black printed lettering. How can these plain little words carry so much power and fear? I didn't even know this book existed till just a few days ago. "We can stop reading it if you want", Zane said, closing up the book.

   "No!", Josh answered quickly, then calmly, "No. Let's just finish the chapter for the night." He began driving again. "It's this way to your house, right?"

   Zane nodded. He opened up the book again began reading again.

"The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night."

   Zane paused and looked at Josh. "Keep reading", he said, not taking his wide eyes off of the road.

   Zane continued reading.

"Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!"

   "That's the end of the chapter", Zane said, closing the book.

   For a minute Josh didn't say anything. Though his eyes were glued to the road, Zane could see that his mind was elsewhere. "I know it's a lot to take in", Zane assured him. "Sometimes I think I should take notes on what I'm reading."

   Josh nodded. "There's so much going on just in that one chapter."

   "That was actually just half of the chapter, Josh."

   Josh blinked in surprise. "How do you it?", he asked. "How can you read all that and still keep reading?"

   "I... I don't know", Zane sighed. "I guess I keep reading because I want answers. I want to know why this is happening."

   Josh sighed. "I get that."

   "You can stop here", Zane said quickly. "My house is down there. I can walk from here."

   "Alright", Josh said, stopping the car. He nodded to the book. "I'll find one of those to read through myself. I'll let you know when I catch up to you. What is it called again?"

   "The Holy Bible", Zane answered, getting out of the car. "It's actually a bunch of books put together. Go to the Revelation, it's the last book."

   Josh gave a small chuckle. "Will do."

   "See you around, Josh."

   "See ya, dude."

   Josh rolled up his window and drove off down the road.

   As he walked down the quiet sidewalk Zane pondered on Josh's words. First it was the mark. Now people are dying over bitter water.

   What could be next?