The Book of Gabriel
Prologue
October 1, 1999
Hank
Hank Jeffers released the trigger on his hammer drill.
“What the hell?” he thought to himself while looking down at his feet. Having felt a sudden numbing sensation at his toes, he was shocked to see a halo of orange energy now moving slowly up his legs.
Frantic with fear, he let out a scream…but the sound was lost in the relatively soft walls of the Illinois coal mine that surrounded him.
At his knees now, the orange energy was making its way slowly up his body, his legs feeling like lead smelted into the stone below his feet.
Screaming again in frustration, panic pushed its way up his body ahead of the ring, threatening to cram itself into his head, bursting it with the added pressure.
But that didn’t happen.
His eyes glazed over as the ring of light reached his neck, his consciousness terminated as the energy entered him fully. Had anyone been there to observe the encounter, they would have seen Hank standing as still as the rocks surrounding him, with only a few telltale tics here and there as the energy plugged itself into each cell.
A sudden ragged breath entered his lungs, followed by another score or more as his body reacted to the last ninety seconds without air.
“Somebitch,” Hank exclaimed breathlessly as he opened his eyes.
The beautiful blue eyes, the ones that had always made the women swoon at the bar on his night off…they had changed.
Barely noticeable, an orange ring now surrounded the iris.
Of course Hank wasn’t aware of this change. He was aware however, of an overriding need to leave the confines of his underground hole and find his car. He had somewhere to go, and although he knew not of the location, he was now determined to get there.
Reaching down, Hank grasped the handle of a small pickax, the comforting feel of the well-worn wood reassuring in his hand.
Standing straight up then, the orange ring in his eyes suddenly flashed brightly, momentarily enveloping the surrounding darkness. A smile crawled across his lips as he shouldered the pick and started to saunter out of the mine.
The confidence in him now surged through his veins, his steps springy with the anticipation of it all.
