Chaim gave other warnings for other countries after that. The plagues varied, but the message was similar, and the responses, too, were much the same. People were more or less free to report believers after the week-long plagues ended, but the point being made each time was that, even when they later got away with turning believers in, it was only because God had let them.
Personal responsibility for the killings did not, in Chaim's opinion, rest with him, though he could hardly dissociate himself from what he was certain that God was doing. Nevertheless, the general public came to see him as cruel and bloodthirsty. This bothered him a little, but he knew it was only because they felt the same way about God. At least fewer people were trying to stop him now, as it became clear that he was being protected by a God of fierce countenance.
The deaths on both sides had risen into the millions by the time an announcement went out from the Two Witnesses predicting the greatest holocaust the world had ever known -- the "big one" as Chaim called it.
The Twelve Tribes website gave people a detailed account of what to expect, as well as practical advice on how to minimise the danger. It said that a huge meteorite shower would cover much of the world, followed by an asteroid slamming into the Atlantic Ocean, and sending mountains of water over the coasts of four continents.
This was the catastrophe that Chaim and Molly had sensed five years earlier.
It had only been six and a half years since America was decimated. Much of the planet was still in shock from that. They fully believed that the world would never suffer such a horrible experience ever again. Nothing would ever compare to it. Yet the Two Witnesses were saying that something even worse lay ahead.
By this time, Dangchao controlled the media sufficiently to be able to suppress most of the warning. People had been forbidden to visit the Twelve Tribes website too, but mil ions regularly disregarded the rule. The numbers visiting the site shot up even farther when word started to circulate about the "big one", and many who had seen the accuracy of the pair's previous predictions decided to take this one seriously.
When millions of cars started to flow out of the cities along the coasts of the many countries that bordered the Atlantic, U.N. authorities set up roadblocks to take information on everyone who left. This scared many into returning to their homes, but millions more gave the required information and fled, hoping that the authorities would find it in their hearts to go easy on them if they were later taken into custody. Fortunately for them, when the floods hit, all the records were destroyed, along with the personnel who were there manning the roadblocks.
There was no way to trace those who had escaped as a result of what they had read on the Twelve Tribes website, and so literally mil ions more were "swept" into the movement.
Chaim later took comfort in knowing that mil ions had been saved because of the warnings; but Dangchao and his billions did not see it in the same way. As far as they were concerned, Chaim and Rayford were the ones responsible for all those who had died. They were the worst mass murderers in all history.
At first, thousands of meteorites rained down on Europe, Africa, and the Americas. This was followed by raging fires over much of the earth. The heat rising from the fires led to the formation of unbelievably huge hailstones, big enough to kill a person. The meteorite showers, two of them, were followed by the asteroid. Even Earth's axis was affected by the collision, and the tsunami was so great that whole cities were literally washed off the map along the coast of Europe, Africa, and South America. It was like one big worldwide earthquake, with thousands of normal earthquakes causing further damage in the days following the 'Big One'.
The world would be decades rebuilding, and even just disposing of bodies was going to be a huge task, requiring international supervision. Dangchao was out of his mind with rage as he started to reap what he had helped to sow on America. His brave new world was in complete disarray.
"Forget the corpses!" yelled the tall, handsome man in the office marked "Secretary General", as he stood to his feet and banged his fist on the desk at the same time. "We need every available member of the military to stop the aliens." (Dangchao had started call ing the believers 'aliens', in an effort to convince the world that they were non-humans with dangerous super powers.) "But your worship," answered a timid man in an ecclesiastical robe which suggested that he too had been used to being addressed with such titles, "it has devastated four continents. The whole world is in shock."
"You're not listening!" screamed Dangchao, who climbed onto the top of the huge desk, shoving aside papers and other paraphernalia in an effort to physically attack his assistant.
Pius withdrew, clutching a sheaf of papers and a clipboard in front of his body as his only defence.
"Kill them! Kill every one of them! Kill anyone who resists!" His face had changed, into that of a hideous animal, as he knelt on all fours facing Pius from the top of his desk.
"And I'll kill you too, if you stand in my way!" he growled in conclusion, as he reached his hand out threateningly toward the other man's throat.
"Yes, your excellency. You're quite right, your worship." Pius whimpered as he stepped back even further, almost tripping over the chair behind him.
"Don't just kill them," Dangchao said, a little more quietly now, but no less threateningly, as he returned to the floor on his own side of the desk. "I want them to suffer as I am suffering. Make them give up all the information they have before they die. We must find out who is behind this and stamp them out."
"But how..." and Pius paused for fear of enraging the man further.
"Say it, you stupid creature!" Dangchao said, resuming his seat behind the desk as evidence that Pius' life was no longer in danger.
"But how will we know that they are telling the truth? What if some do not know anything?"
"You see, Pius, this is the difference between you and me. A real leader knows that there will be collateral losses, and we do not let it stop us." He was speaking almost cordially by this stage, although his volume and passion increased with his next line: "Capture anyone who is named, and put them through the same process. If we kill them all , we will elimnate them all! Right?
"And then, when the aliens are gone, those of us who remain can celebrate."
Because of this brash decree, millions of Dangchao's own followers were tortured and killed. Word spread that loyalty to Dangchao was not enough to protect one from his wrath, and still more turned to the Twelve Tribes... not for salvation from death, for they knew what their decision would cost them, but for salvation from the evil that Dangchao's regime had become. If they were going to die anyway, it may as well be for what was right.