The Jericho Files # 5.4

My week is practically over! Soundboard work in church tomorrow and I can be able to relax...until Monday comes along. I've been able to work on Jericho Files #5.4, so here it is. This is not the end, I'm afraid to say. It will probably be another part to finish. I promise to try to not let them get this big later on, I'm painting myself into a corner sometimes. I'd rather keep them one shots that tell minor stories that add up to the big picture that is Jericho.

And alot more background on him as well.

Anyway, here's the Jericho Files #5.4

The Jericho Files #5.4 – Postmortem

I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe, But my eyes were working. I could still see the ceiling of room I had been interrogated in. My ears were working, but everything sounded like it was underwater. I could hear the muffled shouts of my captors as they continued to struggle with Farid. I could hear the thuds of extra footsteps coming close. They must have called for backup. I could see shadows moving on the wall, and it looked like they had Farid quite well subdued. A couple of shadows were growing larger. This meant they were coming over to me. There were two men, looking of the same nationality as my captors, and a female. They were wearing white coats, so I could assume they were doctors or medics of some kind. They began by looking at my eyes. Based on their expressions, my pupils must have dilated. They began to check for a pulse, but were quickly disheartened when they found nothing. They began chest compressions.

It was strange. I couldn't move my eyes, yet I could see. My earing was slightly muffled but functional. As they began chest compressions, I could feel the hands on my chest and felt the push every 15 seconds. I began to wonder why I could experience all this if I was dead. Do people linger after death? You hear stories of people who experienced a white light as they laid dying, but never have you heard of this. As the doctors continued the fight to save me, I laid there and thought about the legacy I had left behind. I had become a small legend in Ireland because of my dealings with the corrupt law enforcement officials of my hometown. I walked into Israel, looking to lay low, and became an officer in the Israeli military. I couldn't shoot for anything, so they had made me a supply officer. I came became so good that everybody knew who I was. In one monumental moment, I went from behind Sgt. Carey to Mr. Jericho.

I smiled every time I thought about that moment.

I truly had lived a fulfilling life. As the doctors continued trying to revive me, I thought about meeting God. My church in my hometown had taught me from day one that God loves everyone, but hated the sin within us. I'd like to think I had kept myself clean of as much sin as possible. I was not responsible for any pain and suffering, except for criminal types. I fought with the Lord's chosen people in their military. I had lived a decent enough life. I had not been a criminal, I had been a revolutionary.

I prayed that when I made it up here, that God would accept me with open arms. And let me see my mother and father, I wanted to tell them that I had carried on like they asked me to, that day on the farm. The day my life and their lives changed. The day I changed from a small farm boy to a target of corrupt officials and bloodthirsty officers of the law.

I wondered...

My attention was wrenched back to the current situation as the doctor's work was interrupted. A higher ranking officer had walked into my view and was looking at me. I couldn't say I recognized him, as none of our data files contained a dossier with his description. His nondescript face showed age, but wisdom that could only be attained from a Major's rank. He had spent a lot of time in this military establishment and carried the aura of their leader. He was examining my face closely.

I could hear some voices, although I could not decipher what was being said. I think they are in the process of trying to figure out who I was, and what I was doing in this area. I had luckily not worn fatigues when I left my post earlier, so my outfit was not identifiable, just the fact I was armed was all they could run on. After some more studying of my features, I saw him point at the doctors. I could sense some movement for a few seconds. Then felt my body being lifted to another table. This table was cold and felt like a typical metal stretcher. I supposed they thought it was time to move me.

I was being rolled out of the room and into the hallway. It was hard to tell the style of room just by the ceiling. I couldn't gather any more information about my location.

It was then I had to remind myself that I was dead, and my mission was over. There was no point in gathering any more data, as the angels in heaven were not concerned with such things. The ceiling tiles rolled across as I was moved to the outside. I could see flashing lights. They were apparently loading me in an ambulance. Right before the doors to the ambulance opened up, I felt a thud. The stretcher had hit the bumper of the ambulance. I could barely hear some rustling behind me. Several soliders then appeared at my side and lifted my body up. They moved me over to another rigid platform. This seemed to be standard....until I felt my legs being lifted up.

Oh no....

what came next should have been expected...but the fact that I was dead still had not sunk in. The feel of plastic against my skin was helping. I heard the dull roar of a zipper going across the bag. They were bagging me.

As the zipper closed, and darkness surrounded me. The reality of it all finally sank in. I was dead. Life was gone from my body. This was it...

It truly was over.

At this point, my faith in Farid fizzled. It was over for me. All I had to do now was move on. But why wasn't I? This didn't seem normal. I stopped tracking time, which had passed a total of 45 minutes since I injected myself with Farid's medication. He told me this would get me, and get me out it did.

It got me out in a bodybag.

As I waited for my soul to move on, I began to replay my life in my head. I gathered up every memory I could possibly think of and replayed it, paying attention to any and all details my mind could recreate. I thought back to the day on the farm when my life changed forever, the rage that instantly erupted in me. The subsequent revenge, and the satisfaction of that revenge being carried out. I was not a stranger to murder, but I promised that no one else would ever die by hands after that day. And no one had, I had fulfilled the promise to my family.

As I was lost in my thoughts, I was suddenly brought back to the present by a jarring motion. The ground below me felt hard and jagged. I began to heard muffled sounds again, and they sounded like excited voices. I think my captors had dropped me into a crowded area. The bag was being tugged, and before I knew it, the bag came flying open. Staring me in the face were a couple of doctors and a female nurse. They had a look of shock on their faces, then the older male doctor reached into the bag and placed his fingers against my neck. I expected him to get that typical defeated look on his face, knowing that there was a dead body in this bag.

But he didn't.....

He shouted something to his associates and they began to scramble to the sides of the bag. I worked hard to translate his language:

“We've got a faint pulse, let's get him inside!”

My mind raced, wondering how it was possible for the pulse of a dead guy to suddenly return. Had I been alive this entire time? Had the “hope” Farid promised begun to come true?

The doctors carried me inside to the emergency room and placed me on a stretcher. They started hooking up machines to me to find out how I was doing. When the machines powered up, the doctors were greeted with a high pitched beep, stating that I was, in fact, dead. This doctor proved to be stubborn though, and began their life saving procedures.

“CLEAR!”

The shock of electric paddles coursed through my body. I was quite aware of what I was going through, although I don't think the doctors were. There were 3 doctors and what seemed like 1500 nurses all working over me, trying to resuscitate what seemed to be a dead body. I was far from dead though. I guess you could have described me in a physical limbo. On the outside, I was dead. Cold to the touch. But on the inside......

I was very much alive.

TO BE CONCLUDED - Jericho Files #5.5