GW
What was planned for just a couple of days turned into five of them. On the first day, another adobe house was found, just down the road from Todd's home. Like Todd's home it had stout walls, and a flat roof. Unlike Todd's place, it had locking doors, and windows. More importantly it had a generator, which was more than able to handle the load of running the house. It took two days for Kathy and Tim to get the clothing for their family finished. The load was made some what easier by the fact that Tom and Sam had found clothing that fitted them in the general store. Bob and Alex had similar luck with their clothing, limited only by Bobs' insistence that his pants had to be jeans.
"They last longer." Was all he had to say on the matter.
Kathy had asked, "Don't you think we should bury Todd?"
"I'd like to, but I'm afraid that the freshly turned earth would give us away." Bob told her.
The argument went back and forth for some time. In the end it was decided that leaving Todd where he was, was the best idea, and certainly the safest for them all. However, a ceremony was held to honor his memory.
Dogs proved to continue to be a problem for the first two days, but after five more of them had been killed, they no longer came close to the group. Because they would still see one of them from time to time, the rule of all adults, and everyone now thought of Tom and Sam as such, going armed, and guards at all times, was never questioned.
True to his word, the cabinet next to the stove in Todd's home was well stocked with rifle, shotgun, and pistol ammunition. The weapons made a welcome addition to the collection that they already had.
The general store offered even more than some food items, it also had something Bob had overlooked in his preps. Cards for three different types of games, plus a couple of board games were added to their supplies. Diversions the games offered, turned out to be just as necessary as ammunition, in order to keep everyone from becoming to up tight. Two other bonus' the store had were spices for the food, and coffee. After all the time they had spent on the road, coffee had become nonexistent. The adults soon made something of a ceremony of having it with breakfast every morning.
All of them were surprised at two things. First, they were amazed at the number of things they no longer had to entertain them. Secondly, how little they missed them. Once, the children were easily bored with whatever electronic gadget that they were given for birthdays, holidays, or any other reason. Now that such things were no longer available, they found new excitement in checkers, backgammon, and card games, which had no set number of outcomes as the electronic games did, since the outcome was determined by whatever a live opponent did.
Instead of television, they now listened to the few programs they could get on the radio during the evenings. The programs they could hear increased in number when a short wave radio was discovered. Now they could listen to broadcasts from around the world. The knowledge base of the youngest children grew by leaps and bounds.
They also discovered that sitting around playing board games and talking filled them with a sense of togetherness they had never known before. Some of those discussions brought new understanding to Kathy, Tim, and Alex.
"Tell me Bob, just how long have you been getting messages from angels? I mean you lived across the street from us for ten years before all of this got started. Why didn't you say anything?" Kathy asked one evening.
"Michael showed up for the first time, shortly after Nancy died, and just before we had to leave. But I've been getting, well, call them 'nudges' for years. You know, that small still voice that you aren't really sure you heard at all, but whatever you heard, was the right thing to do. I can't explain it better than that I'm afraid, but those 'nudges' were never wrong. They did, however cause more than one argument between Nancy and myself. Like that generator. It sat in the box in my garage for over five years, collecting dust. I don't know how many times Nancy told me to return it to the store, and get the money back in that first year. After it became obvious that it was old enough that the store wouldn't take it back, she urged me to get rid of it in a garage sale. I refused. I told her that if and when the day came we were without power, she'd be glad we had it. You remember what happened four years ago."
Kathy and Tim remembered. A major storm had gone through the area. They were without power for over a week. They were grateful that Bob and Nancy had the generator. It had saved a lot of the food that would have spoiled in their freezer.
"Anyway, after that storm, whenever bad weather was coming our way again, Nancy had only one question, 'Is the generator working?' That generator was a 'nudge', just like the long term storage food we've been eating. Same for my weapons and ammo. I had a shotgun, two rifles, and two handguns. Nancy thought I was a Little 'excessive' in my collection. Knowing I was a vet. she kind of wrote it off to my past. If she had known I also had over a thousand rounds for each weapon I truly believe she would have reported me to the mental health authorities."
Kathy nodded knowingly. She remembered the conversations she and Tim had when he first suggested getting a weapon for their own defense. And she couldn't forget how dearly it had almost cost them.
"It wasn't until things started to really get bad that Michael showed up. As for telling you about the 'nudges'. Well, as I've mentioned before, I gave you a copy of 'Through the Fire, Without Burning' which spoke of a lot of these things, but you never read it. How could I talk to you about the rest?" Bob smiled, "Maybe YOU would have called the boys in the white coats."
"You said that 'small still voice' was never wrong. How do you know it was from God?"
"As I said, it was never wrong. I was 'nudged' by it to get the generator. That wasn't wrong. True, it was years before I even opened the box, but it wasn't wrong. After that year, I didn't have a need to use it again, until recently. But it still wasn't wrong. The answers you get from The Lord are always the right thing to do, even when you don't understand why."
"What about Mom?" Alex asked. "Why did she have to die? It doesn't make sense. She was the one who was always going to the gym, you didn't. She was the one who went to the doctor when she felt something was wrong. She sure seemed to be in good health. So why did she have to die?" Clearly the thought was troubling him.
"I don't know son. I wish I did. I prayed for her for over twenty years. I don't have a clue as to why she died unsaved. All I CAN tell you is that there were many times she saw Gods' provision for us. But she always gave credit to luck, or something else, anything else, but never God. Also there is no way she would have been able to put up with what we've been through already. I don't believe she would have been able to handle what is coming."
"What is coming Bob?" It was Tim this time.
"Dimitru Duduman said he was told that when we go to war with China, over Taiwan, that is when Russia would hit us from behind, and I quote, 'America WILL burn.'"
The Presidential radio addresses had also become something of a regular event. Not so much for any sense of hope, but to let them know just how bad things had gotten. Bob sat waiting for the war with China to be announced as a fact, and not just posturing by governments. He was surprised when he heard what actually happened.
They were calling it 'The Washington Massacre'. The American people didn't blame the President for the west coast earthquakes. They didn't blame him for the mega hurricane that had done so much damage to the entire southeastern coast. Many understood that the armed forces had to deal with shortages, just as they did. They were dissatisfied with the response that left their sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, and loved ones of all kinds at even greater risk than they had been. They became angry when the President pulled two carrier groups out of the middle east, to support the Chinese mission. They knew that that move left their loved ones without a means of getting them all out, if things got worse. Then when the carrier groups were wiped out by the Chinese nuclear missiles, and the troops on the ground in the middle east came under even heavier attacks, they did blame him. Everything seemed to happen by accident.
Claire's' televangelist had once again been put on the air pleading for people to come back to the cities, with promises of food, housing, warmth on cold nights, and all the rest. The foreign troops guarding Washington D.C. had no idea who belonged there and who didn't. But they did have orders to allow anyone trying to get into the city to enter, just to not allow them to leave again. The crowds around the White House started to grow to unmanageable size. They also became angrier by the hour. When they heard about the loss of the carriers, they descended on the White House with the seeming intent of taking it apart, brick by brick.
The foreign troops may not have known what to do about ever growing crowds, but they knew about quelling riots. They opened fire. They continued to fire long after the resistance had stopped. The dead were almost beyond counting.
"Are you certain the master wants me to do this?" The President asked. "Who cares what those useless eaters think? Who cares what they want? It doesn't make any difference."
"Are you questioning me?" The messenger asked in a deceptively mild voice. "Maybe you are questioning the master himself?"
"No, it isn't that. I just don't understand why I have to speak to them."
"The master has his plans. You just do what you are told. The regional directors have already gotten their orders, and have left Washington."
"They're gone? I thought they took orders from me."
"We all take our orders from the master. You have yours, carry them out. Tonight."
"I will obey."
Claire and another director were sitting in a plane as they were flying out of the city. They spoke quietly to one another.
"You are certain of the masters plan?"
"Yes."
"Why would he do it? This one has helped us a great deal."
"He wants power too much. Do you really think the master will tolerate any challenge to his power?"
"No, he won't."
The President was just starting to speak.
"My fellow Americans. I want to speak to you tonight about the rising level of violence in this land..."
That was when the first Russian bomb detonated over Washington. Within seconds, numerous other cities were also wiped off the map of North America. The 'Land of the Free, and Home of the Brave' ceased to exist at that moment.
GW, Vietnam Vet