CHAPTER 22
Everyone except DJ and Andrew, whose turn it was to be at the observation post, was at the meeting. DJ and Andrew were told to use the walkie-talkies and listen to everything discussed.
The group met at the location of Kirk’s funeral, less than 24 hours earlier. Some of the group members were still in shock from the gunfire a few hours before, and dabbed the tears on their faces with rags and handkerchiefs. Various small groups conversed as they waited for the meeting to begin.
Jesse stood in front of the group, and all chatter stopped. He held up a walkie-talkie and talked into it. “DJ, can you hear me?”
“Yes,” DJ could be heard in the speaker.
“OK, I’ll get someone here to keep the button pushed so you can hear what is said.”
“OK.”
Jesse looked to those sitting in front. “Chuck, could you please be in charge of this walkie-talkie?”
“Sure.”
“And check back with DJ every few minutes to make sure that nothing is going on at the roadblock.”
“Will do.”
“Alright,” Jesse addressed the group. “Before we start the meeting let’s go to prayer.” Everyone bowed their heads. “Heavenly Father, we thank You for this day and the protection You have given us. We thank You for our group of fellow Christians we have up here, the food we have and the comforts we have, none of which we would have thought that we would have up here at this time. We ask that You continue to bless our group, bless our fellowship, and bless the planning and training that we have ahead of us. We also hold up and ask for a special blessing for Mike and Bill, who were shot in the attack. We ask for Your healing for these two men. We also ask for reuniting with family members, like Bill’s parents, and a few others. I also want to thank You that my hearing is back. We also ask that You keep us close, keep our emotions positive, and calm the nerves of all of us up here, as we have just gone through an attack that most of us has ever experienced, and it has left our nerves pretty raw. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Several group members said “amen” out loud, and everyone looked up at Jesse.
“OK, everyone, we’re entering our second month of being up here, and as with other meetings, I encourage everyone to keep your wits about you, and stay positive. Laughter is good, so long as you are not laughing at someone else and hurting them. In fact, I cannot emphasize this enough: stay positive and laugh whenever possible. Ease up on the talk of the past, as it is pointless and will only bring you down. I know I have said this before, but I’ll say it again because it is so important: morale is extremely important. Treat morale as part of your survival supplies. Stay as positive as you can, all of the time. A person with bad morale will make stupid mistakes.”
“Amen,” Lawson said from the outskirts of the group.
Jesse looked at Lawson and then continued. “Another thing. I have had a few hours to digest what just happened to our group, and believe it or not, I’m feeling pretty good. Really good, in fact. We had this helicopter attack us, and apparently it was flown at gunpoint by the same guys who killed Kirk. They might have thought that they would fly up here and pick us off one by one, but I count six guns that shot back at them.”
“Six guns?” Jose asked.
“Yes,” Jesse answered. “David, Gloria, Melissa, me, Wallace and Kathy.”
“Oh, I didn’t hear about Gloria,” Jose said.
“Oh, and Bill took a few shots at the chopper after it had landed. So I guess that makes seven. And sure, granted, Melissa’s 22 rifle might not have brought down the helicopter.” Jesse looked to Mary and Melissa. “But Mary told me that Melissa took several shots at it. Not bad for a nine year old.” Melissa smiled and looked around.
“But the point is,” Jesse continued, “for a group of Christian preppers with little or no weapons training, we did pretty darn good. I’m really proud of us. Honestly. Good job, guys.”
“I didn’t really know what I was doing,” Kathy said. “At first I couldn’t move at all. I just shot at the helicopter. Then it flew away, I don’t know,” Kathy looked around. “The helicopter flew away and I would have just stood there for hours, in shock. But Wallace shook me out of it and we hunted down the guys who were shooting at us.”
“And I have to say,” Jesse interrupted and looked at Wallace, sitting nearby. “You and Wallace were great. Bill too.” Several heads in the group nodded in agreement. “I feel like Kathy, Wallace and Bill saved our lives. And I’m not exaggerating. I mean it. You guys saved our lives.” More heads nodded. “Thanks. Thanks a lot.”
Kathy looked at Wallace, sitting next to her. “Thank you,” she said softly. Wallace held up his hand as if to say “it was nothing.”
“In fact, Jose,” Jesse continued. “As the person in charge of food, could you please get that canned tri-tip that is stored way in the back of the second shipping container, and serve it for dinner to Wallace and Kathy here? As much as they can handle. Oh, and for Bill too, if he feels up for it.”
“Will do,” Jose answered.
“And some desert, either some canned desserts or some of that Mountain House freeze-dried stuff we have. I hear that that blueberry cobbler is pretty good."
“I’ll get it.”
“And let’s open a bottle of some of the cabernet that I made a couple years ago.”
“OK.”
“Thanks you guys,” Wallace answered to everyone. “This is way too much.”
“Not at all,” Jesse said. “It’s the least we can do.”
“Thanks,” Kathy said to Jesse.
“One last thing about the attack,” Jesse continued. “Even though we fought off the attackers in the helicopter, we let our morale slip. Earlier today we argued a lot and the insults flew, and I even snapped at Jim, for which I apologize. We need to make a concerted effort to stay positive, despite the hardships that confront us. Myself included.”
Jesse looked at Peter. “Regarding the attackers, Peter and Sean went out and checked for anyone else who might have fallen out of the helicopter. They found no one.”
“Right,” Peter spoke up. “According to Sean and David, there were five armed men who killed Kirk, and there are now five armed men accounted for from the chopper. And they’re all dead.”
“Peter and I hiked where we think the chopper went after being shot by members of our group,” Sean reported. “We hiked to the east, then south, ending up where the chopper landed on the road about half-way to the Alexes. We didn’t find anyone else.”
“Good work,” Jesse answered. “Thanks.”
“Of course,” Peter continued, “I still have no idea how those guys got military-issued weapons. Those M4’s are not legal outside of the military.”
“I noticed that,” Wallace agreed. “And the high-capacity magazines. Totally illegal.”
Jesse looked back at the group. “OK, now I have a few minor issues to bring up here, and then I will give the floor to Wallace.”
Jesse paused, gathering his thoughts. “Whoever was working on the roof of the shed up the hill here left some board and nails pointing up. Someone could step on those nails and really hurt their foot.”
“Sorry, that’s my fault,” someone from the back of the group spoke up.
“Well, let’s learn from this,” Jesse said. “Nails on the ground, whether they are in board or not, are always a safety issue, even before all of this started happening. And now, there are no hospitals we can go to, so we have to be extra careful.”
“Understood.”
“I have also noticed that the people at the observation post have slacked off rotating the batteries of the walkie-talkies. It’s been haphazard. These batteries, the Eneloops, are the best rechargeable batteries ever made, but they need to be recharged in order to work. So let’s remember to get a new set of batteries whenever there’s a shift change at the observation post, and make sure to put the old batteries back into the solar charger.”
“One other thing,” Jesse continued. “Before everything started happening with Kirk and all, I noticed from the telescope that the cattle ranch across the valley might be unattended.”
“You mean the ranch all the way over near the foothills on the other side of the valley?” Jose asked.
“Yep, that’s the one. It looks to me as if the cattle have been trying to live off of grass and weeds, and maybe drinking from the pond, unattended. I haven’t seen any human activity over there in weeks. Usually I see a pick-up truck dropping off straw bales or something.” Jesse looked around for the news to sink in. “But lately I’ve seen nothing going on over there.”
“Interesting,” Jim said. “I’m getting a little hungry here.”
“I’m bringing it up because, well, let’s face it, if the owner of the cows is dead, which might be the case, then we can either leave those cows down there all alone, unattended, or we can bring a few up here to feed, then slaughter, or just get the milk. I’ve seen a calf down there nursing, so there is at least one cow producing milk.” Jesse looked at Mary. “We might not have everything needed to make cheese, but we have lemon juice, and that will help make some kind of cheese, right?”
“Yeah,” Mary answered. “Cheese made with lemon juice will produce kind of a gentle, white cheese. Almost a mozzarella cheese.”
“Well, I love cheese, and it’s something we should check out. Our food situation is pretty good for now, but we need to keep our eyes and ears open for more food, and some beef and cheese would be nice.”
“Wait, are you saying we should get some people together and go out to that ranch?” Beth asked.
“Yes. A quick recon over to the cattle ranch. Just to check things out and then return. Off-road hiking only, so no one will be seen. Then we will meet back here and decide what do to.”
There was some talking in the group. “I may have something to say along those lines later,” Wallace announced.
*****
“I guess that brings me to our newest member here, Wallace Sturges. You all might remember Wallace from church,” Jesse smiled. “As I recall, he sat way in the back of church, usually wearing camo. From all that I heard, Wallace, Kathy and Bill single-handedly killed off the guys in the helicopter. Those guys would have killed us all if they were able to. That is, if they hadn’t come across Wallace, Kathy and Bill first! Wallace has agreed to give us some pointers on military matters. Thanks Wallace, take it away.”
Wallace stood up and walked to where Jesse had been standing. Jesse walked over to a chair nearby and sat down. “I can’t say I’m actually a member here, but ...” Wallace was interrupted by a few claps in the crowd.
The clapping became louder as more camp members joined the clapping. Eventually the entire group clapped and everyone stood up. Wallace smiled at the group.
“You guys are beautiful,” Wallace said. He stood there and looked back at the clapping crowd. “Kathy and Bill deserve this too,” he spoke above the clapping. “And Bill still needs our prayers.”
As the clapping died down and people sat back in their seats, Wallace resumed his talk. “Thanks, guys. As I was saying, I’m not a member here but if you can put up with me resting here for a few days, I plan on going to check on my friend, whose wife’s necklace was in that helicopter. He was a client of mine but we got to be good friends and I’m concerned that his wife’s necklace was found in the helicopter. I can also go check on the cattle ranch across the valley. And while I’m at it I also want to go and check on the town and see what happened there. From a distance. I will be staying off the roads and staying off of everyone’s radar screens. Strictly off road, in-the-brush travel, which will be very slow but safe and unseen.”
Wallace looked at Kathy, who was sitting next to his chair. “Kathy wants to come with me, and I can take a couple others.”
“You mind if I go too?” David asked. Gloria looked annoyed and whispered something to David.
“Sure,” Wallace answered. “And if anyone else wants to come let me know.”
Wallace looked back at the group. “OK, Jesse wanted me to give some military or survivalist tips to the group. I don’t claim to be an expert in all things military, but I’ll give it a try. The main thing I wanted to say is this: whether anyone here wants to believe it or not, you are a military unit, right here, right now. Let that sink in for a while.” Wallace paused. “Not tomorrow or next week, but right now, you are a military unit. Even as you are sitting here. The world and the country are in total upheaval, chaos reigns out there, people are hungry, killing others, killing over scraps of food, killing for the heck of it … basically the end of the world in every sense of the word. We were attacked up here last night, and there will probably be more attacks up here in the future.”
Wallace looked at Jesse. “I know that Jesse mentioned camouflaged clothing a few hours ago, and he’s right. You won’t get a warning for the next attack, so whatever you wear needs to blend into the surroundings here. If you can dye your clothing dark brown, green or black that would be great.”
“That’s right,” Mary spoke to the group. “We packed a bunch of Rit dye. Dark green. So tomorrow we will start dying our clothing dark green. We shouldn’t have any pastels or white clothes up here at all.”
“Good,” Wallace answered. “Also, it would be great if you guys could get together some ‘ghillie suits,’ which are nets that hold some dark bandages so that you can blend into the surrounding foliage. That is more advanced, but it is something that you could work on later on.”
“A person wears that, right?” Chuck asked.
“Yeah, and they’re pretty cool. You can lay down on the ground and people won’t know you’re nearby. They think it’s just a pile of leaves or something.”
“Cool.”
“Also,” Wallace resumed his talk. “I haven’t seen much jewelry around here, but gold and silver watches, necklaces, whatever really reflects light, so it should either not be worn or covered up somehow.”
“Yeah, we have talked about that,” Jesse said. “DJ and I talked about camouflaging our jewelry, like his cross necklace.”
“You mean like a camouflaged cross?” Wallace asked.
“Yep.”
“Interesting,” Wallace responded. “Very clever. I see the symbolism there. Don’t tell me. A camouflaged cross, so that it is still seen, identifying us as Christians and spreading the Gospel, but in the final military setting of the End Times. Interesting symbolism there.”
“Not exactly,” Jesse answered. “Just a shiny piece of jewelry that we want covered up so that it doesn’t reflect the sun and give away our position.”
“Oh,” Wallace paused. “Well, there’s another thing I wanted to bring up. I noticed you have one good observation post, but it might be time for a second one, a little further to the north. Looking over that footpath that comes down to the road on the other side of the roadblock.”
“Oh, I thought no one knew of that,” Jesse said.
“I did a recon of your place here, and of the Mormon place up the road before I came here, and that is when I saw it. It’s a good trail, and it is pretty well-hidden. But it needs its own observation post, just like the other,” Wallace said. “I think there is a bend in the hill near the road that make the opening to that path not visible from the current observation post.”
“We will probably need more walkie-talkies at some point,” Jesse answered. “But yeah, we need to work on that.”
Wallace continued. “And speaking of leadership, I figure Jesse is in charge here, but leadership and chain of command is also an issue. So whoever is in charge, like Jesse, needs to have a second and third in charge. That way there will always be someone in charge up here.”
Jesse stood up. “Well, I consider you all my friends but if I were to say a second and third in charge here, I would have to say Mary and David, the two who have been with me on this retreat property project since the beginning.”
“Not to mention the fact that Mary is your wife,” Jose pointed out and smiled.
“Well, yeah.” Jesse sat back down. “Sorry, Wallace, go ahead.”
Wallace smiled, and continued. “It sounds like first aid and medical care is handled by Lois here, and she should keep everyone updated on medical supplies, which never seem to last as long as you think they will.”
“OK,” Lois, who was sitting next to Lawson, said. “I could do that. But everyone needs to keep in mind that I am only a nurse, not a surgeon. I can bandage wounds and give stitches, and maybe give some advice here and there, but for serious issues, we will probably need a surgeon up here. Someone who can actually operate. And that is something that as a group we don’t have covered.”
“Well, Lois,” Wallace answered. “If you could just keep up to date on what medical supplies there are up here and tell everyone when shortages come up. If anyone leaves the property, you will need to give them a list of supplies that are needed, and maybe you can get what you think everyone needs here.”
Wallace looked at the group. “Similar thing for food and water. I hear that Jose is in charge of food, right?”
“Yep, that’s me,” Jose nodded.
“Could you also be in charge of water?”
“Sure.”
“And when I say ‘be in charge of it’ I mean keep track of the supplies, figure out how much you have and how long it will last, and report back to the group on any concerns you have. Shortages, that kind of thing.”
“OK.”
“Another thing: it looks like your group has begun to accumulating some weapons, and someone should be in charge of keeping track of all the weapons and ammo here. And cleaning the weapons and making sure they don’t jam. Stuff like that.”
Everyone looked at Peter. “Look, you guys, I’ve handled many guns, but trading in my M-16 at the Marine version of the ‘Golden Conex’ is the closest I ever came to cleaning a gun and making sure it won’t jam. I think what Wallace is talking about is a gunsmith or something.”
“Yeah, actually I am. And if you don’t have a gunsmith here, maybe you guys can educate yourselves on guns and gunsmithing. Cleaning guns after you use them, and making sure they’re good to go. Field strip them. Do you have any books up here on gunsmithing?”
“Not really,” Jesse answered, looking down.
“Well, maybe everyone can pray on this,” Wallace suggested.
“Yeah.” Jesse nodded.
“OK, there is another important issue that need to be covered, and I know that it won’t be popular but I will just say it. Someone needs to get everyone here in shape. Physically. That way you will be ready and able to fight back when you need to.”
“What do you mean, like push-ups or something?” Keira spoke up.
“Oh, that’s the start of it. Push-ups, sit-ups, running, patrol formations, hand communications, being cohesive military units –“
“Wallace, thanks,” Beth said, “but I’m not sure that will work. We have some eighty-somethings here, and some of us here are bona fide soccer moms.”
“Well, the eighty-somethings I would give a pass to, but for everyone else … like I said, right now you are a military unit, whether you realize it or not.”
Sean answered, “I could do it.”
“Well, yeah, Sean,” Beth said. “You were about to go into the military anyway. The rest of us, come on. Sit-ups?” Several other nodded in agreement. “Wallace, I appreciate your speaking here, but really…”
Wallace looked at Beth. “Sorry, what is your name?”
“Beth.”
“OK, Beth, you would be surprised at how short it would take to train yourself to be a pretty good soldier.”
“He’s right,” Peter agreed. “I’ve seen it.”
“This is just not realistic,” someone from the back answered. Many nodded in agreement.
“Look you guys, you wanted me to give you some survival tips, so here they are. If you don’t want to listen to me, fine.” Wallace sounded frustrated.
Jesse stood up. “Hey, if Wallace says it needs to be done, it needs to be done. He knows this stuff. Do you want to survive or not? Live with it, people.”
“Yeah but,” Jim started to object.
“Hey, someday the enemy will come again,” Wallace spoke out above the murmuring from the crowd. “You guys need to get ready. Exercising, military training, all of it. If you aren’t ready, you die. That’s all.”
*****
Wallace focused his attention far behind the group. “Excuse me, everyone, is he with your group here?” Some of the talking died down. “I don’t know this guy. Is he part of your group? Who is he?”
Jesse stood up and looked behind him, where Wallace was looking. “No,” he said. “I don’t know him.”
“Who is this guy?” Wallace asked again. Several others stood up and looked behind them. A man with short black hair and dressed in dark green military clothing, with a machine gun strapped around his side, emerged from the forest. After hacking away at the few remaining bushes in his way with a machete, he put his machete back in its sheath at his side, and walked closer to the group. The man looked very tired and dirty.
The man walked closer to the group. Wallace pulled out a pistol and pointed it straight up, ready to use if needed, which startled some in the group. David and Mary stood up on either side of Jesse.
“Who are you?” Wallace called out to the man.
“First Sergeant Black, of the 303rd Training Unit from Fort Leonard Wood.”
“What are you doing here?” Wallace asked him.
“I’m a deserter,” the man answered, already out of breath. “I had a dream, and it was horrible. So much killing and screaming. I deserted my unit.” The man fell to his knees, took off his rifle and backpack, and threw them to the ground in front of him.
Jesse approached him. “Why did you come here?”
“You were in my dream too,” the man answered. “I saw you,” he said as he looked closely at Jesse. “That part of the dream was good. After I saw all the killing in my dream, I saw your face. I was told to come here.”
Jesse looked around the group. “Lois? What do you see? He looks kind of dehydrated to me.”
“Yes, he looks very dehydrated,” Lois answered. “And very tired. If we had a hospital, I would admit him and hook him up to an IV drip.”
David spoke up. “Does he have the Mark? Someone check him.”
“No,” the man answered. “Taking the Mark is still optional in the Army, but I knew it was wrong. So I never took it. Here, look at my forehead, and my right hand. The Mark is not there; never will be.” The man held out his hand.
Wallace put down his gun.
“OK, Sergeant Black” Jesse asked again, “what’s your first name?”
“I’m a deserter.”
“OK, yes, I know. You said that. But what is your first name?”
“Josh.”
“What did you do for the Army before you deserted your unit and came here?”
“The Army rotates assignments,” Peter said.
“Right,” Josh answered, still out of breath. “My last assignment was drill sergeant.”
Mary looked at Jesse. “A drill sergeant,” she repeated.
People started to sit down.
“Could someone please get Josh here some water, mixed with salt and honey?” Jesse called out. “Looks like he needs some electrolytes.”
“OK,” Jim said and left with Jose.
“Thanks,” Josh said. “I’ve been on the run for four days. My canteen and camelbak ran out two days ago, so I’m pretty dry. And I didn’t bring any water filters or anything.”
“You’ve been on the run for four days?” Peter asked.
“Yes, it was the worst dream I’ve ever had. Much worse than a nightmare. And it was so real, that’s the thing. It felt totally real. Killing all around me, screaming. Screaming that was so loud, I was deaf for almost a day. The dream told me to leave. Now. And come here, and, like I said, I saw your face, sir. So I grabbed my stuff and ran. I didn’t stop running for about four hours.”
“And this dream left you without hearing?” Jesse asked. People pulled up chairs to hear the debriefing.
“I know it sounds crazy. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but yes, the dream left me without hearing for a few hours. And I thought I had really heard it. All the screaming. It was horrible.”
“Here, have a seat,” David offered one of the chairs.
“Thanks.” Josh got off the ground and sat in the chair.
“What have you been doing for four days?” Jesse asked.
“I hiked here, off-road. The dream just pointed me in this direction and I ran. And when I got tired, I just walked. There are some very dense forests to the north of here. I haven’t eaten since I left.”
“That must’ve been some dream,” Mary said.
Josh looked at Mary. “You have no idea.”
“Well, I’m sorry. You look pretty tired,” David pointed out.
“He also needs a shower,” Keira pointed out.
Josh looked at Keira. “Yep, I admit it, I probably smell pretty bad.” The mood of the group improved a bit.
Peter inspected Josh’s gun on the ground. “Looks like this gun has been fired recently.”
“It really is all bad out there,” Josh began. “All of it. I never thought our country, our world would go down the tubes like this. I read the Bible, and I know all this was predicted, but here we are. It’s horrible out there.” Josh paused and caught his breath.
“When did you shoot your gun?” Peter asked.
“A couple nights ago, I found a place to sleep for the night, or to try and sleep. It was near an electronic substation.”
“Electronic …?” Chuck asked.
“Well, I’m not an electrician,” Josh explained, “but, as I understand it, electricity travels a lot better when it is very high voltage. Then the electricity lines come into a substation where the electricity is transformed so that it can then go to individual houses and be used at lower voltage. It takes really big transformers to do that. So that is what is done at all these electronic substations, all around the country. And they are all totally unguarded.”
“Oh.”
“Well, I found a place to sleep for the night, and there was nothing around except for this substation. It was pretty desolate there, and I thought it was a safe place to try and sleep for the night. Next thing you know, I get woken up by a bunch of guys shooting up the substation with AK-47’s. They couldn’t care less about me.”
“Oh, you’re talking about Metcalfing,” Wallace said.
“Yeah, I’ve heard the term,” Josh agreed. “They just shot up the substation to cut off the electricity to the town nearby.”
“You say these guys didn’t care about you?” Peter asked.
“Yeah. They just stood there, shooting at the substation with their AK-47’s. It woke me up and I just started shooting at them.”
“Yeah, this is how it happened a few years ago outside Silicon Valley in California, at the substation in the area called Metcalf,” Wallace told everyone. “Back then it was a dry run, and the electricity around Silicon Valley was re-routed so that there was no interruption. Of course, all the powers that be shrugged their shoulders and said that it was not related to terrorism. Not even remotely terrorist-related.” Wallace smiled a sly smile. “But it was clearly a dry run terrorist attack on the electrical grid. Studies have shown that if this were done at many substations around the country, at the same time, the entire electrical grid would go down, not to be replaced anytime soon. Transformers that big are very rare, and they are only made only in Korea and Germany.”
“Sounds like you’ve looked into this,” Josh observed.
“Yeah,” Wallace answered. “Anytime the government says that ‘nothing to see here, move along,’ I sit up and take notice. The story of that Metcalf event was buried in the news.”
“I guess the gunmen did their damage and moved on, right?” Jesse asked.
“Oh, yeah. Haven’t you noticed how clear the stars are at night, at least from the north? I know this area is pretty remote, but all it takes is a little bit of civilization to cloud up the night sky a little.”
“What else did you see out there, Josh?” Peter asked.
“Well I was almost part of an attack on a National Guard base when I left.”
“Attacking the National Guard? Why?” Peter asked.
“Some of the states have effectively seceded. I guess you haven’t heard. Some states seceded, but of course they haven’t used the word ‘secede.’ But it works out to be the same. And those states have taken over the National Guard units within their borders. We had orders to take them back. A few shots later, and we had a civil war on our hands.” Josh looked around. “You guys must be really secluded up here if you haven’t heard about that.”
“Incredible,” Peter said. “Attacking our own troops…” Peter started looking through Josh’s dark green backpack.
“You can have my stuff, I’m done with it,” Josh told him. “I’m no longer in the Army.”
“Just curious what you brought with you,” Peter replied.
“Hey, if you don’t mind,” Josh pointed at a small orange book that slipped out of his backpack and onto the ground. “That’s my Bible, and I would rather not see it on the ground.”
“Oh, I agree.” Peter picked the Bible up off the ground.
Jim and Jose returned with a cup of water, salt and honey. “Here, drink this,” Jim said.
“Thanks.” Josh swallowed the water in a single gulp. He handed the cup back to Jim.
Jim turned in the direction of going to get another cup of water, but he stayed and listened. “You must have seen a lot in the last few days,” Jim said.
“And only yesterday,” Josh continued. “I forget what day it is. Anyway, whenever it was, I came across a train derailment that burned down a nearby apartment complex. Apparently the train was carrying some crude oil. The terrorists have gotten pretty good at derailments. I saw at least 35 dead bodies at that apartment complex. The lucky ones died of smoke inhalation, while the unlucky ones just burned to death.”
“It’s like I keep telling everyone,” Jim said, sounding a little too matter-of-fact for the conversation. “We need to approve the building of oil pipelines from the north, where they drill the oil, to the refineries in the south.” Jesse, flanked by Mary and David, looked at Jim. All three started nodding ‘no’ to what Jim was saying. “Pipelines are a lot safer and cheaper to transport the oil,” Jim continued. “And building oil pipelines can generate some good, high-paying jobs. It’s a real win-win situation for the country.”
Jim looked at Jesse, Mary and David, all nodding in disagreement. “What? What did I say?” Jim asked.
Jesse quickly cleared his throat. “Jim, we are in the End Times here. Politics doesn’t matter anymore. In fact, politics is totally irrelevant at this point. It’s time to give the political talk a rest.”
“Oh, I guess you’re right.”
“You were sounding pretty good there, Jim,” Jose said, smiling. “You should run for Congress or something. I’d vote for you.”
“Except -- oh that’s right,” Jim said with a smile, “there are no more elections. Minor detail there.” Jim and Jose chuckled.
Josh looked at Jim and Jose, confused. “Laughter? I haven’t heard laughter in ages. What’s with the laughter?”
“It’s better than the alternative, don’t you think?” Jesse asked.
Josh sat forward in his chair and asked Jesse, Mary and David, “I have to stay here. Can I stay here? I can more than pull my own weight. I was in the Army, you know. I can help you guys out with a lot of things. Will you let me stay here, please?”
“You’re a Christian, right?” David asked.
Jesse interrupted. “We’ll have to talk about it, Josh. This is another thing we haven’t planned on. What to do when someone wants to join us. I guess we’ll have to talk it over. Just keep in mind that this is not a peaceful area here. You might have just hiked from one war zone into another. We were attacked by some scumbags in a Huey last night.”
“A Huey helicopter? How’d it go?” Josh asked, then looked around. “Well, I guess you guys did OK. You’re all here. Unless the casualties are somewhere else.”
“We got ‘em,” Wallace said. “Two of us got shot but they’ll pull through.”
“Oh, they were shooting at you guys here?”
“There were five of them,” Wallace reported with pride. “And we killed them all.”
“Not bad. Not bad at all.” Josh looked over the group. “Lately they have been using crop-dusters and helicopters to throw out Anthrax or Ebola germs on cities. I guess they thought they would just shoot at you guys here.”
“Yep,” Wallace nodded.
“Forgive me, but you guys don’t look like the types who have had much weapons training.”
“Well,” Wallace started.
“We’re not,” Mary interrupted. “Aside from a few of us, most of us don’t know one end of a gun from the other.”
“Maybe I can help you change that,” Josh offered.
“Yes, maybe you can,” Mary agreed.
Jesse looked at Jim. “Jim and Jose, could you two please walk Josh back to the camp and help Lois work with him? He still needs a lot of water and electrolytes. We should also feed him some of our leftovers from lunch. He’s probably pretty hungry too.”
“Sure.”
Peter and Jim walked with Josh back towards the center of the camp where they planned on feeding him more water mixed with salt and honey, and Lois planned on checking on Josh’s vital signs and addressing the medical issues that she could address. Everyone sat back down in their chairs with Jesse and Wallace both standing in front.
“I think that’s all I had to say,” Wallace concluded. “I hope I helped with some ideas of surviving. The main thing is that everyone needs to be ready to defend this camp at any time. You need to be fit, dressed in camo, and trained to go in a moment’s notice.”
“Thanks Wallace,” Jesse said.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an early dinner to go to with Kathy, and it’s gonna be a beaut.” Wallace started walking towards the camp, followed by Kathy and Jose.
“Let’s close in prayer. Lawson, could you close our meeting in prayer?”
“Sure,” Lawson said, and then slowly walked to stand next to Jesse. Everyone bowed their heads. “Heavenly Father, we thank you for a good meeting with a number of topics for us to consider. We thank You for the guidance You have given us so far, and we ask that You bless our group here, and protect us in these dangerous times ahead. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Wallace, Kathy, Jose, followed by most everyone else got up and walked towards the camp center. A few others stayed in their seats.
“Chuck, you can turn off the walkie-talkie microphone now. Let’s hope our friends at the observation post heard the meeting.”
****