Curtain Fall: Second Edition, Disaster, Preparedness, Survival, Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 1) (10 page)

John shook his head in amazement. The ludicrous nature of the information was second only to its worthless value. He closed the page with a click and leaned back in his chair. “Was it a cover up?” he asked himself. It wouldn’t surprise him if it was. He wasn’t into conspiracy theories, but John knew better than to believe the government was incapable of telling lies, or withholding important – even life or death information - from its citizens; especially if they believed it was, “for the greater good of all.”

At a minimum, he wouldn’t be surprised to learn that the Caldera’s activity was being down-played just to prevent mass hysteria. One thing he did know, it would take more than one news story to get everyone’s attention. Even then, even if all the news was focused on the Caldera, it would take an official government announcement to make things happen.

John leaned forward and scanned the search results again. He found a link to a geologist who went by the name, Christopher Sanders. He said, “I am advising all State officials around Yellowstone National Park for
a potential State of Emergency. In the last week over 252 earthquakes have been observed by the USGS. We have a 3D view on the movement of magma rising underground. We have all of the pre-warning signs of a major eruption from a super volcano. - I want everyone to leave Yellowstone National Park and for 200 miles around the volcano caldera.”

John noticed Sanders’ comment was posted way back in January of 2009. That made it at least seven years old now that it was 2016. He recalled his experience in the alley, of seeing the pile of rocks. The sixteen stones did represent the year, 2016 after all. He couldn’t believe he forgot such an important dream detail as that.

John decided that as soon as he got home, he would find his record of the dream and read it to see what else he may have forgotten over the years. However, one thing was very clear to him now, more so than even his post lunch-time dream recollection episode, a disaster was imminent. He knew it without a shred of doubt. The dream was a message for him to prepare, and what he saw confirmed that the Yellowstone Caldera was about to erupt.

J
ohn was startled by a knock at his door, and knew that it was Tony before even turning to look. Tony always knocked the same, three quick, light taps on the door frame with a single knuckle. After locking the computer screen, John looked at Tony and said, “I’ll be right with you. Come in and have a seat.”

As he gathered his files and began to arrange them on his desk, John stole a glance at the wall clock. He couldn’t believe time was moving so slowly. It felt like it should be late afternoon at the earliest. Never before had he felt so drained and energized at the same time. It was as if he was hooked to a battery, but running a race; the power was being spent as quick as he received it.

Tony was the last person he wanted to talk to, now that he understood the future better, but John knew he had to follow through with
his work commitments. He couldn’t quit everything simply because he knew everything was about to change. Besides, he really didn’t know how much time he had before the disaster struck. It could be a week, or more, before anything actually happened. There was still two months left in the year 2016, and he didn’t think he could stay away from work more than a few days. Still, what time he dedicated to finalizing his preparedness would not be wasted.

Tony fidgeted while John sorted and pulled papers from his files, organizing them to suit his best interests, and Tony’s capabilities. He regretted scheduling the meeting with Tony, but when he made the appointment he hadn’t yet completed the disaster puzzle in his mind. Now that he wanted to leave work, everything was an annoying distraction.

John chided himself for being insensitive and concentrated on the work laying in front of him. “You should have no problems while I’m gone,” he said, as he handed the first file to Tony, and followed up with a brief description of what needed to be done. Tony took notes while John did most of the talking.

Thirty-five minutes later, Tony gathered up the files and headed for the door. He stopped to shake John’s hand and two files slipped out of his grasp and fell to the floor, spilling their contents across the floor.

Tony cursed, but John said nothing as he reassembled the files. When he handed them back to Tony, the other said, “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. It’s no big deal. It’s only paper,” said John.

“No . . . your mom. I’m sorry about your mom.”

“Huh?” said John, surprised at the source of the apology, the timing of it, and the fact that word had reached Tony in such a short time. John collected himself and asked, “You heard?”

“Yeah. Bummer. Let me know if there’s anything more I can do to help.”

“Well, I don’t know what you heard, but we don’t have all the details yet. It sounds worse than it is,” said John, as he ushered Tony to the door. “But I appreciate the offer, and for what you’re doing to cover for me. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call.”

Tony nodded and left, and a minute later John followed him out and headed straight to the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face. He looked at himself in the mirror, and wasn’t at all surprised to see bloodshot eyes and a tired, haggard face staring back at him. No wonder everyone thought he was upset, he looked a wreck.

J
ohn’s phone vibrated and he pulled it from his pocket. Somehow, while his mind was distracted by the disaster, he had missed four work calls. Three were now waiting as voice mails, and one was a hang-up. But in his current state of mind, he wasn’t interested in dealing with any calls outside his immediate family. He didn’t even listen to the voice mails and deleted them from his mailbox.

After a quick stop at a urinal, John washed his hands and returned to his office. Once in, he quietly shut the door, turned off the TV, and began to systematically open each desk drawer, looking for anything of valuable or that was special to him in any way. Though he wouldn’t yet admit it to himself, he already knew he wouldn’t be returning to work, so he felt compelled to collect things of significance to him.

Satisfied, he stood and pulled on his sports coat and checked the pockets for his sunglasses. But when he stepped away from his desk he was filled with guilt. He wasn’t sneaking off, but it felt like he was. He wasn’t even convinced the stupid volcano was going to erupt anyway, or was he? In that moment of uncertainty, of silent contemplation, an image of falling ash filled his mind.

No. He was certain the Caldera was going to erupt. The only question was, when? “
Today’s the 10
^th
” John thought, “
Could the sixteen stones I saw in my vision represent the 16
^th
day of this month?
” John returned to his desk and opened his calendar to see when the 16
^th
was. It was next Tuesday. But he wasn’t absolutely sure what to make of the sixteen stones, if they represented a year, or a specific date. In fact, he didn’t know how to interpret dreams at all, but he was certain
the stones meant something, and if not a date, then what did they represent?

All of it, the literal and figurative representations within his dream, or vision, or whatever it was, was somehow meant to prepare him for this moment in time. And though it was more a feeling than logic, they all rang true to him. He felt, rather than knew, the truth of it all, that the disaster was coming. He also realized it didn’t matter if the actual eruption occurred on that date, or the ash began to fall on his home. Either way, it would mark the worst natural disaster known to modern man.

John moved to the door and rubbed his forehead. He was giving himself quite a headache thinking about all the different possibilities and effects of such a catastrophic disaster, and what he’d need to do to better prepare for it. For him, the most important thing was that he made the connection between the dream and the news reports. He didn’t know why he was given such awareness, but he wasn’t going to squander the opportunity to prepare further.

The fact that he didn’t understand the dream when it happened was irrelevant. The dream still prompted him to prepare, even if it didn’t make any sense when he had it. Of the eight years between then and now, the past two marked John’s high-water mark of preparedness. He was prepared. Maybe not prepared to the level he would like to be, but prepared just the same.

A chill ran down his spine at the thought of putting all this disaster stuff together without having done anything to prepare. There’s no way he could have hoped to accomplish everything he needed to do in six days if he wasn’t already prepared.

One of the things John didn’t like about the army was that it made it virtually impossible to have and maintain a long-term food storage. His quarters were always so small, and the set weight limits on shipping personal property was never enough to cover his family possessions, let alone a conservative, three-month food storage.

Water was never an issue for him because empty water barrels didn’t weigh very much, but they always took up room in his small garage or
basement. Dried foods, especially grains and legumes, not only took up room, but they were heavy, so he never bothered to maintain a supply.

John had a supply of “Meals Ready to Eat,” or MREs, to use in an emergency, but only about a two month’s supply at two meals a day for each family member. They were also heavy, and by regulation he wasn’t even supposed to have them in his quarters, at least not in the quantity he had, but he never collected them illegally. What it did mean, however, was that he treated them like his personal weapons and ammo, and preferred to move or store them himself.

John liked the idea of living on an army post during a disaster struck, but he knew the security they provided could easily translate into confinement. Since the September 11
^th
attacks, and the subsequent security improvements that followed, military posts were much easier to secure and better designed to contain those who lived on post.

The only thing he liked about living on post was knowing that his family would be safe if he was tasked to help in support of a rescue or relief operation, otherwise, he had no desire to live on an installation, regardless of rank or circumstance.

The army routinely involved itself with every major regional disaster that came along, especially when the civilian government agencies couldn’t handle the responsibility. But to John’s knowledge, that never was for a national disaster. The eruption would change everything for everyone, even the military.

While family support functions on military instillations were better than most, he preferred to live off-post whenever he could. John was confident Jenna and the kids would be taken care of when he was away, regardless of where he lived while on active duty, but he was glad those days were gone. He preferred, like most responsible husbands and fathers, to take care of his family himself.

John knew, from experience, that the military was an imperfect organization made up of imperfect men and women. His trust in others, especially when it came to the care of his immediate family, was therefore limited. He always considered it a personal responsibility to
feed and protect his loved ones, and given the current disaster threat, he planned to exercise that option with renewed enthusiasm.

That sentiment was all the more relevant when he considered where he was when Hurricane Katrina made landfall. Fort Hood, a sprawling, multi-divisional installation, was located some three-hundred miles from Beaumont, and another hundred miles from New Orleans.

Though he didn’t deploy to New Orleans as part of the military relief response, he was required to closely monitor the events, and attend daily briefings at the division headquarters. John learned several things from that experience: He learned that pre-disaster hysteria could be contagious, as empty store shelves as far north as Austin could attest; he learned that law enforcement officers could be individually motivated, in the absence of strong moral leadership, to unconstitutionally seize personal weapons and even participate in looting; that a 72-hour kit was not enough to facilitate a realistic evacuation, let alone a survive-in-place effort; and lastly and most importantly, that FEMA run camps are unable to adequately feed, shelter and safeguard large numbers of disaster refugees.