The Doomsday Prophecy

Chapter Sixty-Seven

Alex was waiting down below in the car. Ben climbed into the passenger seat. She started up the car and headed along the dusty, empty road. They sat in silence for a while.

‘I would have liked to know you,’ she said quietly.

‘It could have been different,’ he replied.

‘But it isn’t, is it?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s not.’

‘Won’t you change your mind? Stay with me for a while. See how things go.’

He said nothing.

‘I know how you feel,’ she said. ‘But doesn’t life have to go on?’

‘I’m not ready, Alex. I’m sorry. That’s just how it is.’

Time passed. Miles under their wheels before they spoke again.

‘What will you do now?’ she said.

‘Go home.’

‘Back to theology?’

He said nothing for a moment. Then he whirred the window down. The wind blew their hair. He reached into his bag and took out the Bible. Stared at it for a few seconds. The book couldn’t mean the things it once had to him. Not now.

He tossed it out of the open window.

It hit the seventy-mile-an-hour blast and burst open, pages fluttering. Then it tumbled down the grassy embankment at the side of the road and was far behind them.

‘I guess not, then,’ she said.

‘What about you?’

She glanced over at him. ‘Do next? Same as you, Ben. Take stock of things. Look for a new direction. Maybe the Agency isn’t for me after all. I signed up because I wanted to help people. I figure there are better ways for me to do that. So, I’ve been thinking I should go back to medical school.’

He nodded. ‘That’s a good decision. You’ll make a brilliant doctor.’

She reached across and squeezed his hand. ‘I’m going to miss you, Ben Hope,’ she said.

‘I’ll miss you too.’

‘Will you be OK?’

‘I’ll be fine,’ he said.

‘Really?’

He smiled. ‘Really.’

‘Keep in touch.’

He didn’t reply.

‘I know you won’t,’ she sighed.

After a few more miles, a sign flashed up for a small town. He showed her a place where she could drop him off, and she pulled up on the grassy verge.

She said nothing as he climbed out of the car. He slung his jacket over his shoulder and watched as she drove away.

The car grew smaller and smaller until it was just a dust cloud in the distance.

The sun was setting. He turned and started walking towards the town.