Apocalypse Eve: A Pre-Apocalyptic Christian Love and War Story

By James Maryott

War came from an unknown - 'the other state.' 

This secretive state wanted war to achieve an age-old dream, to conquer the world. When fighting started, this global adversary focused their attention on southern France. To counter this threat, the United Nations established Triad. Triad was a star-studded intelligence force from three

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Jul 23, 2021
• ISBN: 9781637690598

Book preview

J._Maryott_-_Cover_Only_.jpg

A Pre-Apocalyptic Christian

Love Story

Apocalypse

Eve

James Maryott

Trilogy Christian Publishers

A Wholly Owned Subsidiary of Trinity Broadcasting Network

2442 Michelle Drive

Tustin, CA 92780

Copyright © 2021 by James Maryott

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Scripture quotations marked (KJV) taken from The Holy Bible, King James Version. Cambridge Edition: 1769.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

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Trilogy Christian Publishing/ TBN and colophon are trademarks of Trinity Broadcasting Network.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Trilogy Christian Publishing.

Manufactured in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-1-63769-058-1

ISBN 978-1-63769-059-8 (ebook)

Dedication

I dedicate this fictional text to God my heavenly Father and to His Son who never gave up on me! Even when I was a prodigal son, His grace was and is stronger than my countless shortcomings. Also, I want to dedicate this work of fiction, to my mother and father, Vera and Jim Maryott. Although both have passed on to their eternal salvations, I still discern their fervent love. Additionally, I want to thank my cousin Chris Spriggs, and his wife Debbie Spriggs, who invested long hours editing my work, which is entitled, Apocalypse Eve.

Chapter 1

b

A Crimson Christian’s Calling

As an eleven-year-old boy, John Garner dreamed of joining the U. S. Army and becoming a spy. As a man, John Garner, thirty-four, became an intelligence officer and a major in the U.S. Army. His preparation for combat and intelligence came from West Point and three outstanding intelligence agencies: The Directorate for Surveillance of the Territory from France, or the DST abbreviated, which was the largest intelligence organization in France; Israeli intelligence, the Mossad; and the United States Army Intelligence. At one time, the U.S. Army acquired intelligence solely for battlefield strategy. However, through John Garner’s vision as a Second Lieutenant, the U.S. Army began gathering intelligence for covert, intelligence missions too.

Major John Garner stood 6’2" with a muscular, slender build. He had a chiseled chin, brown hair, green eyes, and small, distinct scars on his forehead. These battle scars were likened to an All-American linebacker’s scars. He wore these scars with pride, because each attractive mutilation was earned through combat or an intelligence mission. He was married and was a father. However, three years ago, his wife, twenty-five, and daughter, four, were killed in a car crash.

His heart was crushed!

John Garner learned that life could be cruel. He also learned about the cruel realities of war, realities that transformed his boyhood dreams regarding warfare. Dreams that changed from dramatic, movie-like glamor to callous, brutal acts of war, such as people who were killed on battlefields.

On worldwide theaters of war, military leaders carted their dead off blood-soaked battlefields. Slain patriots were not neatly assembled as they first reported for duty, handsome or pretty and walking upright, because many left the battlefield in death-reeking body bags. Also, wars were no longer fought just on traditional battlefields because many of these brutal encounters were fought block-by-block on your, and my, city’s streets.

Tonight, Major Garner was on assignment. He could see and hear artillery blasts in the distance, but those blasts were far away and not part of his assignment. His night’s task was elsewhere. He was on a lone mission. Nevertheless, John didn’t mind being alone, he had experienced aloneness before.

When he was eleven years old, his father, Dean Garner, was the District Attorney for the Eastern Regional Office of Missouri. In St. Louis, where his father officed, he tried several high-profile cases. Nevertheless, the highest-profile case to-date was Max Baer. District Attorney Garner put this ‘Satanic wanna-be’ away for life in solitary confinement. In the DA’s words, For the world’s protection!

Through this demon’s word, hired assassins executed sixty-six of his political enemies. According to the district court’s records, he was to be tried for ordering five more murders later. This imprisoned killer vowed to escape and procure revenge against the District Attorney and the DA’s family. Max Baer vowed to kill his thirty-six-year-old, pregnant wife, their unborn child, their son John an eleven-year-old, and the DA himself who was also thirty-six years old.

Utilizing baseball lingo, this incarcerated murderer batted a thousand, when keeping promises to kill his enemies!

The Garners lived in a gated community. There were one hundred stately homes built on one-thousand acres. The developers called this showcase of homes, Camden Trails. They patterned their real estate marvel after a wagon wheel, which was a circle. Each imagined wagon spoke was a trail that led to the center of the community. These trails led to up-scaled shops and fine restaurants, and Camden Trails was within St. Louis’s city limits. While these homes were closed to unknown persons, several friends and family members visited these homes regularly.

John’s mother, Lana Garner, was pregnant and received a call from her doctor, and she told Mrs. Garner that they were going to have another boy; the family was overjoyed by the news! This news added to the family’s Christmas Spirit. On Christmas Eve, the Garner family went Christmas shopping. This was an annual tradition. Members of the family were the parents, Dean and Lana Garner; Mrs. Garner was a former attorney and met Mr. Garner in the courtroom. She was now a full-time wife and mother; their eleven-year-old son, John Garner; and their unborn son, who they were going to name, Dean Garner Jr., after his father.

Young John was an intellect. As an eleven-year-old, he attended Saint Louis University, instead of a K-12 institution. He earned a GPA of 4.0, to this point in his studies. Also, he had an exceptionally high SAT score, 1580 out of 1600. From his earned SAT scores and GPA, he was recruited by several Ivy League schools, such as Harvard, Princeton, and Yale. So, there was much to celebrate, on this special day!

Christmas decorations and sweet aromas of chestnuts and bagels roasting on open-grille fires accompanied the Christmas songs, which were sung and instrumentally played, by assorted choirs and pleasant-sounding ensembles. They also practiced another tradition on Christmas Eve: They prayed in Christ’s name, for His saving grace, which each one received. Two hundred and fifty people joined the Garner family, in this sacred union, as they bowed their heads and prayed the Lord’s Prayer.

The congregation of neighbors, friends and guests encircled a fountain, which acted as the centerpiece for this Christian meeting. Dean Garner said, "Esteemed guests, neighbors and friends will you join me in prayer, as we recite the Lord’s Prayer. We will utilize the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew 6:9-13, and from the New International Version within the Holy Bible:

"Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on Earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one."

Then Dean Garner said, In Christ name, we pray, Amen.

The Camden Trails residences prayed this prayer with orphaned children who visited them, so they could learn this sacred prayer. Caring for orphans was a year-round ministry for several Camden residences, and the orphaned children visited them each Christmas Eve. This was an annual tradition. These parentless children also visited this community several days throughout the year. Additionally, there were residents from the community that adopted orphans. One family adopted five children.

Since it was Christmas Eve, the community hired a double shift of police officers and extra security guards; therefore, there were many more than needed for Camden Trails to be secure. Plus, each police officer or security guard worked the standard eight-hour shifts, and still provided secure night-and-day security. Also, with a state-of-the-art security system, they assured Camden Trails residents that they were secure for the holidays. As the Garners continued their walk through the shopping area, huge inch-wide snowflakes started to fall. At first, the pleasant, oversized snowflakes fell slowly. But soon the pleasant snowfall changed from intermittent snow to a snowstorm! A snowstorm that was not forecast for St. Louis. Their distance vision was becoming impaired.

Yesterday, Max Baer escaped from prison. Prior to his escape, he was placed in a high-security prison in solitary confinement, through the work of the District Attorney, Dean Garner. However, some influential citizens from the ‘other state’ aided Baer in his escape. An escape that occurred the day before Christmas Eve. These ‘other state’ members sought what Baer sought - the elimination of the District Attorney. The DA worked rigorously to apply the law equally to all; yet there were those within this clandestine state who believed that they were more equal than others who were not members of their ‘other state.’ Therefore, like Max Baer, they wanted this DA deleted quickly. Permanently! Baer also wanted to add the District Attorney’s family members to his ‘Death List.’ The secret society’s spokesperson granted his request to kill all the DA’s family members as well as the District Attorney.

Max Baer and his militia broke through Camden Trail’s security system like it was tissue paper. They also killed all police officers and security guards, without a single resident being aware of this security breech.

Meanwhile, the snowfall turned into an even fiercer snowstorm. The storm overwhelmed St. Louis. The blizzard produced vicious downfalls of inch-wide snowflakes and Baer’s gunmen could not see their targets, the Garners. While Baer’s militia could not see the people’s faces, they could see each person’s physical form. Subsequently, Baer ordered his men to shoot everyone. John’s parents, friends, neighbors, and orphans all fell lifelessly throughout Camden Trail’s shopping area. But John escaped through an underground maintenance tunnel, which traveled the length of the housing development. The dead were everywhere. Several bodies even fell into the depths of the maintenance tunnel.

The Garner boy was unaware of his situation: He was the sole survivor of the massacre! That meant that he was also the sole witness of the murderers, which were Max Baer and his military-trained assassins.

Quietly, he positioned himself out-of-sight and a few feet below Max Baer, in the underground maintenance tunnel. He studied every feature of Baer’s face. He wanted to retain these mental pictures of the murderer’s face. He wanted to remember every line, every detail of Max Baer’s face. Then the boy shouted inside himself - I’M GOING TO KILL HIM SOMEDAY!

Then the boy thought to himself – Mom and dad would not have wanted me to think like that. And they would not have wanted me to say that I was going to kill someone, even if it was Max Baer.

Max Baer, thirty-seven, stood 5’9 had a muscled, athletic build and barked orders at his men. One such order was, I want District Attorney Garner’s son found. Now!"

The boy knew that his death was a vital part of the killer’s plan. Baer’s death wish for the boy was an evil act of revenge against his father. His father demanded that Baer be placed in an