Page 5 of War

Then Jerusalem is fucked.

A small noise leaves my lips, and War—if that is, in fact, War—turns my way.

I duck back down.

Oh my God, oh my God,ohmyGod.

A horseman of the apocalypse might actually be standing twenty meters from me.

The hoof beats pause, then leave the main road. Suddenly, I hear the clop—clop—clop of them heading up the hill towards me.

I cover my mouth, muffling the sound of my breathing, and I squeeze my eyes shut. I can hear the crunch of dry brush and the horse’s noisy exhalations.

I don’t know how close the horseman gets before he stops. Itseemsas though he’s right outside the building, that if I stood and reached out the window, I could pet his steed. The hair on my arms rises.

The horse stops, and I wait for its rider to dismount.

Could that really be War?

But whywouldn’tit be him? Jerusalem has been the epicenter of several religions for centuries. It’s a good place to bring about the end of the world—it’s even been foretold that thisiswhere the world ends on the Day of Judgment.

I shouldn’t be surprised.

I still am.

After one long minute, I hear the retreating footfalls of War’s—shit, I guess I’m assuming it really is War—horse.

I wait until the footfalls are sufficiently far away before I gasp, a fearful tear slipping out.

Oh my God.

I don’t move. Not until I’m sure War has moved along.

But just when I think he’s gone, I hear more hoof beats.Severalmore hoof beats.

Who else could possibly be following the horseman?

The hoof beats seem to multiply on themselves until it starts to sound like thunder.

I peer from that shell of a window. What I see takes my breath away.

There must behundredsof riders all squeezed onto the road, armed with knives and bows and swords and all other manner of weaponry.

My heart begins to pound faster and faster, and yet I keep still, so still, afraid to even breathe too loudly.

I wait for them to pass, but they keep coming, the riders followed by what look like foot soldiers, and those followed by horse-drawn carts.

The longer I watch, the more riders pass me by, until it becomes clear that there aren’t merely hundreds of men, butthousandsof them, all who follow in War’s wake.

There’s only one reason this many armed men are traveling together.

War isn’t simply riding into Jerusalem.

He’s invading it.

Chapter 2

I wait untilthe entire army has passed through before I leave my hiding spot. I step out of the building on shaky feet, unsure what to do.