Bad Turned Worse: A Summary of the Apocalypse

Chapter 4: Everleigh

It's funny how life kicks you around. One moment you're living in blissful ignorance of anything but your own simple self, and the next you're trying to decide the best way to save the world. Unfortunately, Joan and I were faced with a universal problem: parents. Somehow I just didn't think they would understand if I said I needed to drive down to Carlsbad in order to stop an old woman from releasing Lucifer. Heck, I hardly understood.

“Got it!” Joan snapped her fingers. I looked up at her from across the kitchen table where we had been standing for the past ten minutes.

“Got what? A good excuse to leave?”

“Yeah. We could pretend to get kidnapped. I know a guy who would do it for cheap.” Joan offered, smiling proudly. I stared at her,

“First of all, that's a terrible idea. Second of all, how do you know a guy that fake kidnaps people?”

“Well he used to hang around after school was out at the high-school, and ask us if we needed rides. He drove this really legit looking van too, all the windows were painted over, except for the driver's one and the windshield, so that you couldn't see inside.” Joan paused and frowned at nothing in particular for a moment, “You know what, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that guy was an actual kidnapper. My gosh, how did I miss that?”

“Not totally sure, that seems pretty obvious.”

“Well, I was pretty stressed at that point, I wasn't worrying about kidnappers. But anyway, what's your solution?”

“I don't know.” I put my head in my hands and leaned against the table, “What if I just tell them the truth?”

“We went over that, remember? You're parents aren't exactly the believing type.”

“You're right. OK, where's your paper?”

“What are you doing?” Joan asked, while handing me a piece of scrap paper and a pen. I didn't say anything as I scribbled a note down, then I held it up and read it out loud,

“Mom and dad, I had to leave for a little bit. Don't panic, I'll be back.”

“Hmm. You know they'll still definitely panic and put out a search warrant on you?” Joan remarked. I shrugged,

“It'll be good enough.” I set the note so that it was clearly visible on the table. When I didn't go back home, they would come check here first and see it.

“Alright. What about clothes and stuff? Should I sneak back into my house?”

“No, they might catch you and then you'll be stuck. Besides, if we're going to Carlsbad, that should only be a day. Depends on how long things take, we should be back before tomorrow morning if we drive through the night. Plus, I checked Marlene's wallet. It's still got her credit cards and cash. Couple that with my stash, we outta do just fine for money.”

“This seems like a bad idea.” I muttered.

“This entire thing has been a bad idea from start to finish.” Joan snorted. I opened my mouth to respond, but suddenly felt incredibly light-headed. My heartbeat pounded in my ears and black spots appeared in front of my eyes.

“Oh not again.” I muttered, sinking into one of the chairs by the table. Joan glanced over at me,

“What again?”

“Poof.” I said sleepily and flopped face first onto the table.

I was still in the kitchen when I opened my eyes, but it was different. Joan was gone, and everything looked ten years older, like it had been abandoned. Outside the window was a rusty desert wasteland, similar to the one in my last vision. The problem was, I didn't see Gabriel anywhere. Until she appeared, crashing through the front door.

“Bad news.” Gabriel gasped.

“Of course there is. What took you so long to get here?” I asked wearily.

“Doesn't matter. I need to tell you something.”

“OK, tell.” I encouraged. Gabriel took a deep breath, and covering her eyes with her hands, said,

“There were never sixty-six seals.”

“Pardon?” I replied, surprised at the calm tone of my voice.

“I told you there were sixty-six seals. I was wrong. There were only seven.”

“What?” I shrieked, the calmness long gone, “How could you not know this? You're an archangel!”

“Well if we're going to be completely honest, I never helped lock Lucifer up. I was busy elsewhere at the time and by the time the information reached me, it had been a bit skewed.”

“That's no excuse! Seven seals? Oh this just got amazing.” I groaned, and buried my face in my hands..

“Yeah...also one more thing.” Gabriel added. I raised my head, and shifted my hand so I could glare out at her with one bloodshot eye,

“What is it?”

“Six of the seals have already been broken. The last is in Carlsbad.”

“Six? Six!” I repeated in shrill tones. Gabriel nodded,

“That's what I said. So you better get on it.”

“Us get on it? Can I remind you that you're the one that messed everything up?”

“I'm sorry! I'm doing the best with what I've got, just like you. Anyway, I suggest you get out of here. Tootsweet!” she finished savagely. I opened my mouth to snap something back, but she had already disappeared by the time I thought of words.

“Everleigh? Are you OK? Did you do the thing again?” Joan was standing next to me, staring down at me.

“Yeah, how long was I out?” I stood up.

“You weren't out. You just stopped talking and moving and stared at that little spot on the wall right over there for like three minutes straight. I kinda thought you died for a second.” she sounded both relieved and disappointed that I was alive.

“Oh. Well I've got a really bad update.” I took a deep breath, “There's only seven seals.”

“Left to break?” Joan questioned.

“No. In total. There's one seal left to break.”

“Well son of a bi-”

“I know, I know.” I interrupted, “Which means that we should get to Carlsbad as fast as we can.”

“OK.” Joan pulled out her phone, and muttered as she typed, “How long does it take to drive from Taos, New Mexico to Carlsbad-” she looked up, “Carlsbad it in New Mexico too, right?”

“Last time I checked.” I replied absently, checking my phone to see if there were any new messages from my parents.

“Alright, about five hours.” Joan said.

“Well that sounds horrible.” I groaned. Joan shrugged,

“Yeah. Hey, you go start the Jeep, I'm going to give my cousin a call. Just in case things take longer than we think they will, I want her to check on the animals.”

“Good idea.” I caught the keys as she tossed them to me, and jogged outside. Joan followed me several minutes later, still talking into her phone,

“Thanks so much. I'll let you know if we'll be back in time.” she hung up and hopped into the passenger's seat.

“Did you tell her the truth?” I asked, turning the Jeep around and pulling onto the road. My parents had paid for me to start driving at fifteen, so I had gotten my driver's license only about four months earlier, right after my sixteenth birthday, and I thanked my lucky stars for that early start. Things would have taken a very different turn if neither Joan nor I could drive. We drove in silence for almost an hour, before Joan let out a huge sigh,

“Are we almost there?”

“Um,” I glanced at her, “We still have about four hours to go, actually.”

“No! This is going to take forever.” Joan threw her arms up in the air and slumped down in her seat.

“Well, we're trying to save the world here, I guess that's going to take some sacrifice.” I remarked.

“Yeah, speaking of, we're going really slow. By the time we get there the world will have ended. Did we get any food?”

“I'm trying to not get pulled over here, and no, we didn't get any food. We'll stop later when we need gas.”

The next two hours passed similarly, broken only by occasional stops at gas stations.

“Here, I can drive.” Joan offered, when I was filling up gas three hours into the trip.

“OK, that-wait. How can you drive yet? You just turned sixteen.” I frowned at her over the gas pump.

“Well technically I still have my learner's permit, but I can drive.”

“Not without someone over 21. Why did your mom let you drive over to my place this morning?”

“Well it was just on a county road, for like 100 feet.”

“No, you aren't driving.” I pulled the pump out and placed it back in its holder, “Sorry, but I'm four months older than you, so I have to be responsible.”

“I'm responsible.” Joan snapped, then waved a bag of gummy bears at me, “I just bought six bags of these, so while you drive, I'm going to see how many I can fit in my mouth at the same time.”

I stared at her. She smiled at me. I ended the conversation.

Luckily, Joan fell asleep about ten minutes after we got back into the Jeep, so we never got to find out how many gummy bears she could fit in her mouth. It was also a nice peaceful drive for me, without her crying about how far from home we were every five minutes. When we were about an hour away from Carlsbad though, Joan woke up.

“Hey.” she said, shifting in her seat. I jumped to the side, and banged my head on my window,

“What the heck, I thought you were asleep.”

“I was and then I woke up, and I saw that.” she stabbed a finger into her rear view mirror. I glanced into my own mirror and saw a beautiful muscle car behind us.

“Oh yeah, nice car.” I mentioned. Joan shook her head,

“That's not just a nice car, that's a 1969 Boss Mustang.”

“Alright.” I said slowly.

“That's the same car the reaper was driving! The one who was looking for you.” Joan clarified, still watching the Mustang.

“Oh! Right.” I glanced over my shoulder to get a better look, “We've been driving a ways though, maybe someone else has the same car.”

“No, that's him. I would know it anywhere.” Joan insisted.

“Well then what do we do?” I asked nervously. Joan took a deep breath,

“We just have to keep calm.”

“OK, you're right.” I agreed. Joan leaned towards me and slapped the dash,

“Keep calm, you hear? We have to keep calm!” she shrieked, “He's a reaper, he's going to kill us, so keep calm!”

“Keep calm!” I echoed at top voice and stomped the gas pedal. The Jeep shot forward down the road, and I could see the Mustang speeding up behind it. Then it really gunned it, and flew past us. I slowed down, right as the Mustang spun sideways and slid to a stop, facing the Jeep.

“We're all gonna die!” Joan bawled next to me, sounding a bit like a baby pterodactyl. I felt the same way, but I felt as thought shouting didn't make it any better. Looking back, I saw that the road was clear of traffic. This was bad. A young man stepped out of the driver's side of the Mustang, and I clenched the wheel.

“What do we do?” I hissed to Joan. She frowned,

“Normally I would say we could take him, but he's a reaper. Better not take any chances, lock the doors.” she clicked the lock on her side, and I did the same on my side. The man walked up to my window and tapped on it politely. He was pretty attractive, and didn't seem like he wanted to kill us, but I held strong and shook my head. The guy rolled his eyes and called through the glass,

“I'm not going to kill you, I don't know what that weirdo's been telling you. Open your door, would you?” he asked. Joan leaned past me,

“No! Get outta here!” she shouted back.

“OK Joan, wait.” I hesitantly rolled down my window a couple inches, “What do you want to talk about?”

“I'm here to tell you to stop.” the reaper said flatly.

“Knew it.” Joan snapped her fingers, “We don't need your negativity here, Frank.”

“It's Felix, and it's not negativity.” Felix fired back, “You're too late.”

“So that's your message? To just stop?” I frowned, “That's kind of a lame message.”

“No, there's something else. Death told me to tell you, Everleigh, that it's not up to you. The Apocalypse can only happen or not happen at the hands of Sacrifice.” he paused and thought about that for a second, “Yeah, that was it.”

“Sacrifice? You said that like it was a person, or a thing.” I answered.

“It is, in a way. Anyway, that's all. No killing.” he raised his hands in a gesture of peace.

“Well thanks I guess.” I glanced over at Joan, “Hey-”

“He's gone.” she interrupted, staring past me. I looked back to see an empty piece of road. Both the reaper and the Mustang were gone.

“Sometimes I think I just imagine all this.” I muttered and put the car in drive.