The Light

By James W. Cook

The Light is a science fiction/thriller that begins with world war 3. As the characters drive to their destination, they are forced to take cover in a cave on a hill near Jerusalem. A flash of bright light, that they believe is a nuclear blast, actually transports the characters back to the first century at the time of Jesus Christ. Can they survive, yet find their way back home?

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Apr 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9781475981766

James W. Cook

The author was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on March 1, 1951. I attended Freedom High School in Bethlehem Pennsylvania as well as LCCC. I am also a U.S. Army veteran having served from August 1968 through August 1971 as well as being a Vietnam Veteran. I am the proud son of the late William and Thelma Cook.

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Copyright © 2013 by James W. Cook.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-4759-8175-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4759-8176-6 (ebk)

iUniverse rev. date: 03/21/2013

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

CHAPTER 2

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 6

CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 8

CHAPTER 9

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 1

My name is Sergeant Crawford. I’ve been in the U.S. Army for several years, and looking forward to making the army my career. World War 3 has been going on for about six months now, and the fighting is getting more severe. How much do I miss my family back in North Carolina. Very much so. I’m stationed a few miles east of Jerusalem, what use to be mostly Muslim, but now is all Jewish. The Russians made a pact with Iran, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon that would guarantee that if Israel made any moves farther Eastward, they would come to the rescue and attack Israel. The one problem was that they undermined the American resolve. One of the basic reasons I believe the Russians made a bad call was the assassination of the American President. Vice—President Hartman made it clear that any provocation would be dealt a great response on the part of the American alliance with Israel. The Israeli’s have been able to thwart any Russian advance, however, this war has just started and who knows what will come of it. The Americans had hoped for a negotiated settlement, but the Russians wanted no part in that. They were determined to see the Muslim alliance prevail.

My job was to go to the various outposts to check on the situation, and report back to headquarters. The truck now loaded with supplies for the outposts, I gathered my team of two other soldiers. I had selected Private First Class Robert Shaw and Private First Class Louis Bonatelli. Bonatelli was from the Bronx and was as tough as nails. He was always getting into scrapes, but never broke the law doing it. Shaw on the other hand had left the university to enlist once hostilities broke out. Shaw was always a lady’s man and could be seen hanging out with the prostitutes that had emerged since the outbreak. The poorest Palestinian women had to feed their children and with only a few menial jobs to go around, they would supplement their income catering to the G’I’s. The drawback to that was once in a while we would encounter a Muslim spy amongst our midst. The Russians always use to use the Muslim’s to gather information about our troop strength, and basically whatever scraps of information they could gather. Once in a while we would get lucky and catch one.

Captain Brown advised me before I left for the first outpost to be on the lookout. Apparently the Russians were about to launch an attack with the elite Russian fifth army division, coupled with a battalion of Muslims, mostly from Iran. Intelligence had briefed the Captain, and it was my duty to be prepared, and perhaps gather more information from the eastern most outposts, commanded by Major Harrison. The Major was well known for sniffing out what the Russians were up to, almost eerily able to know in advance. His team called him the dog, because of his ability. The American seventh army division was preparing for the onslaught, but there was something missing from intelligence, and I knew I had to get that from the Major Shaw, Bonatelli, and I began out trek to the first of seven outposts. It was a dirty drive, but thankfully we had enough supplies for ourselves to see us through.

After about a half hour we arrived at outpost number one. Little did we know that this trip would be one we would never forget. As Shaw and Bonatelli unloaded the supplies for the men, I had a conversation with the company commander about any movement that might be considered hostile. He assured me that the Israelis commander for the region didn’t have anything new to report. That said, we resumed to make our way to outposts two, three, and four. So far there hasn’t been a problem, but that was about to change.

Outpost five, the most dangerous of all the outposts, was right before us. It was also the largest, having several hundred troops. This was the outpost commanded by Major Harrison. Shaw and Bonatelli decided to go to the p.x. for some items while I had a discussion with the Major. No sooner had our meeting started when several rounds of enemy artillery came just a little too close as far as I was concerned. One thing is it made everybody scramble for cover, and was a reason for our own artillery to return fire. Major Harrison explained that if the Russians were able to get close enough to this post, it meant that I would have to be very cautious once I ventured outside the perimeter. After a couple hours we were ready to resume our drive and head to outpost number six.

Within about twenty minutes we encountered a squadron of soldiers from the Muslim Liberation Front. Soldiers that were well known to mistreat any prisoner, at least until they slit their throats. That wasn’t very comforting. As much as we wanted to be at outpost seven before dark, I had a funny feeling that it wasn’t going to go that way. Immediately we came under heavy fire. We left the truck, and took up a position I felt we could handle. After forty minutes we had managed to kill five enemy soldiers, and scattered the rest. The one problem we had was that our truck was out of commission. That meant that the rest of the way was by foot, and that meant for the next eight miles, we were vulnerable to anyone or thing out there.

As we made our way to outpost six, Shaw developed a rash on his arms. Not knowing exactly what it was, I poured some water on it to relieve the itch. The country is loaded with small bugs that bite, and it usually develops a rash, which is quite itchy, but harmless. As the sun baked us, I noticed how beautiful the flowers and vegetation was in this country. It’s too bad there’s a war going on because this place sure has it’s beauty.

Finally after two hours of walking, we arrived at outpost six. Captain Morris welcomed us and asked where our truck was, and why it took so long to get there. Shaw said, Captain, we sure want to get some rest and wash up since we had walked so many miles to get to the outpost. Having heard that, Captain Morris allowed us to freshen up, and report to his office within three hours. Needless to say it sure felt good to get cleaned up and get something to eat. At the designated time, the three of us entered Captain Morris’s office. Apparently there was some enemy movement very close to our position, and Captain Morris wanted to make us aware, and to be very cautious going towards outpost seven.

With our orders in hand, Shaw decided to go to the medical shack to get his rash looked at, and then we would resume our journey. While waiting for Shaw, Bonatelli and I went over our itinerary just to be double sure everything was in order. Suddenly several rockets hit our position. As we scrambled to the bunker, Captain Morris was headed our way when a round landed in front of him, killing his instantly. Now it was up to the first sergeant to take charge until another officer could replace Captain Morris. After nearly a half hour of being bombarded, things became eerily silent. Finally, we were able to load our truck and move on toward outpost seven, not knowing destiny was about to head our way. The trip would last about a half hour, but as we were about twenty minutes away, there was a loud and bright explosion. Has there been a nuclear strike, and which side could have caused it? We exited the truck and headed towards a hill about four hundred yards, long yards, ahead of us. As we approached the hill, I noticed there was a small cave about half way up the hill. I said to Bonatelli and Shaw, lets get up there until we figure out what had happened. It was the brightest light I had ever witnessed in my life. Although it was very bright, I thought to myself that it couldn’t have been a nuclear explosion because nothing, including us, had moved. Just what was that bright light? Not caring to find out, we climbed the hill and entered the cave. We decided to chill out here for at least an hour until things either cooled down, or we were able to find out what had happened.

Shaw went out to the entrance to have a smoke while I checked our gear that we were able to take with us from the truck. I went down the list, flashlights, radio, food, water, and some ammo. We had enough supplies to wait this out for perhaps a day or two. Darkness approaching, we decided to stay for the night in the small cave, hoping that by daybreak, we could leave our small quarters and head to the next outpost. By morning, Shaw informed me that his rash had subsided. The sun was just beginning to rise when all of a sudden there was a very bright flash of light followed by a very loud bang. Just what the heck was going on, and was it safe to leave the cave?

After what seemed like hours but was just a few minutes, I went outside to have a look of the area around us. As I peered through my binoculars, I saw a few men on horseback. I couldn’t make out what they were doing at this location or even who they were. I called for Shaw and Bonatelli to come have a look, and that’s when Bonatelli told me that they appeared to be wearing armor like ancient Roman soldiers wore. I said, You’ve got to be kidding. Bonatelli said that he was sure they were Roman soldiers, but what would they be doing at our location, and how is it possible that Roman soldiers would be near us, after all, this is the twenty-first century. I was sure we were going crackers, but seeing is believing and they sure appeared to be what we saw. Either someone was playing a joke or we have somehow been transported back in time. As I peered once again through my binoculars, I saw in the distance a small village, a village that wasn’t on my map. Having seen the situation we were in, I decided to stay in the cave until dark and then venture out to check things out.

CHAPTER 2

Darkness seemed to take forever, but it did come. We decided to leave some of our gear in the cave since it would only slow us down and I wasn’t quite sure what was happening. Was this just a figment of our imaginations? Then again we all saw what was out there. I haven’t been so scared since my first day in combat. Shaw, Bonatelli, and myself had no idea what was ahead of us, but we were soon going to find out. As we slowly left the hilltop, we moved as slow as possible, taking in whatever was around us. The village lay in the distanced, about half a mile. As we got closer, we saw villagers milling about, dressed in clothing of the period. Were we really in the first or second century, or were the people just wearing clothes that seemed to look like they were in that time?

As we got closer, we came upon a shack that apparently belonged to a carpenter, noticing all the wood strewn around. At this moment we