Curtain Fall: Second Edition, Disaster, Preparedness, Survival, Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 1) (42 page)

“It was the only way to calm the mood,” said John.

“So you weren’t serious about the offer to help them?” asked Jenna with surprise.

“Oh no, I was serious. But this is already going in the wrong direction. I wasn’t planning to feed the entire neighborhood,” remarked John.

“You’re not feeding the entire neighborhood,” soothed Jenna, “you’re helping a needy family.”

John snorted and said, “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re surrounded by needy families. At some point we’re going to have to turn folks away.”

“Well, we’ll deal with that when the time comes. You did good,” said Jenna, and she kissed John on the cheek.

“How’d the conversation with Marissa go?”

“Fine. She’s really mad at Paul for sitting around all day when they could have been gathering food. Oh, and get this, they’re Mormons.”

“Really? And they don’t have a food storage?”

“I guess not,” replied Jenna.

“Well, I was never one for stereotypes anyway,” said John.

“You were raised Mormon,” said Jenna.

“Yeah, well, that was a long time ago. I have food because it’s smart, not because the Church recommended it,” said John.

“I also think it’s smart. I’m glad I married a smart man,” said Jenna, as she hugged John.

“Now you’re teasing me,” said John.

“What? Never. I love my prepper survivalist husband.”

John hugged her back and let a hand drop to pinch her butt.

Jenna squealed and said, “Hey! Watch those hands, mister.”

“What? Now you’re pulling rank on me?”

“You got that right. I am the commanding officer of this house . . . if you don’t mind.”

“Oh. Sorry ma’am. It will never happen again, ma’am,” he replied with a grin.

O
nce again, John found himself standing alone in an open field. It was the same grassy field as before, except the destruction was gone and it was a different time of day. By John’s reckoning of the shadow under his feet, he guessed late morning or very close to noon. Not that it mattered, he knew the time in this place of his visit was irrelevant. Everything on the field was about feelings, or how it felt to see and do certain things.

John saw the ancient oak tree again, and was glad to see it alive and well. He was closer to it, but it wasn’t significant enough to grab and hold his attention. The cool shade under the tree’s grand boughs was enough to beckon any weary traveler, but he was neither weary, nor a traveler.

John turned in place and raised a hand to shield his eyes from the overhead sun, and the sleeve of his robe caught his attention. The white material looked coarsely woven, but it felt more like silk than wool, or even cotton. He looked down and noticed the robe stopped barely above his ankles, and exposed his bare feet to the turf. He wiggled his toes in the grass and enjoyed the naked pleasure of connecting with the grass. The feeling was more luxurious than any carpet.

What surprised him more than the robe and his bare feet was the three gold keys that hung from a fine gold chain around his neck. They were no ordinary keys, for they were large and strangely crafted. The largest of them hung from the chain at his breastbone and reached nearly to his waist. Each was of a different design and purpose, though he didn’t know how or why he knew that.

Taking the largest key in his hand, John held it out for examination. From the bow to the collar, the key was a smooth polished stem. It was the key’s pin, bits and wards that were oddly fashioned, as if they weren’t intended to open any physical lock.

The other keys were formed with similar delicate intricacies, but instead of wards they held beautiful gems. He selected the key with a beautiful white gem, and was touched by its beauty. A warm and loving light radiated from the gem as it filled John with love. It was as if the gem appreciated John for recognizing its special qualities.

The gem of the final key was of equal feel and radiance, except that it was blue. It held within its depths the radiance of a tropical sea, but also the expanse of the evening sky. He felt the power of it, the desire to be set free.

“That is your key to me, papa.”

John turned and saw Eli standing next to him. They shared a warm smile and Eli said, “Now press it against my chest.” John placed the key against Eli’s chest and a flash of light filled his mind. For John, it was like stepping through a doorway and into a brightly lit room.

When John looked at Eli again, he saw a young man of about Adam’s age, or maybe older, like nineteen or twenty. Before John could think to speak, Eli reached over and pressed the two remaining keys against John’s chest.

John saw another flash of light, but this time, instead of a door, he saw a tunnel open before him. It was long, and bent upward in the distance. He watched in amazement as the tunnel slowly contracted before him. It grew increasingly smaller until it was the size of a large pipe, then a hose, a straw, and lastly, before completely disappearing, a fine thread.

“The link between us is set. You now have special access to heaven, and me,” beamed Eli. “Thank you for your work, papa.”

“I’ve done nothing,” said John.

Eli nodded and said, “You will see what you have done in due course. Perhaps you will even see what you will yet do. But for now, take my hand. I have much to show you.”

John took Eli’s hand and they were instantly high above the earth, and moving at great speed. They came to an abrupt stop and John looked down. He knew immediately where he was, for the large, gaping hole on the earth’s surface could be only one place, the Caldera.

The huge, open, lava filled crater was a raw sore on the face of the earth. A festering boil against the dark and blasted landscape. Dark vapors swirled around the wound and cast a gloomy pall over the freshly scarred and cratered world below. The once living and vibrant natural setting that was called Yellowstone National Park was gone, buried beneath a desolation of heat and ash.

Like bright orange tentacles, large lava filled rivers stretched out from the crater as if searching for food. They flowed in fast moving streams to fill valleys, and where possible, they formed lakes and pools of cooling lava that resembled even more wounds. The burnt and bleeding skin of an earth forgotten in time.

In the distance, jets of steam shot high into the air. The erupting ground water added nothing but more mist and confusion to the scene. John felt the loss of life as it burned into his heart. And not just the loss of natural life, but human life as well. Tears ran down his cheeks as he took in the destruction wrought by the eruption.

“What do you see?” asked Eli.

“It is the Caldera as it now is,” said John.

“That is correct,” replied Eli.

They were once again flying at great speed across the sky. John saw that he was above a vast and ruined city. The once tall and grand buildings were toppled to the ground or left bare of all but their skeletal remains. Of the structures that remained standing, they were nearly buried under a mountain of gray ash and volcanic strewn rock.

All but a few of the buildings were lost. And of those that remained, they were but shadows of their former glory. Skeletons, the empty carcasses of human engineering. No man would ever again live or work in those buildings. It was a dead city, a city lost, blasted and buried by the fury of the eruption.

Beyond the city was a vast and desolated landscape of shattered and burnt trees. Like the hair of some giant leprous beast, the fallen trees lay combed over on the leeward side of the mountains. The great river that once flowed clean and clear near the city was gone, it lay choked with mud, ash and fallen timber. Great piles of accumulated debris stood at river bends, denying any hope of a return to its original course.

“What is the desolation that is below?” asked John.

“The desolation below is the city you now call Boise,” replied Eli.

John nodded and turned away, but everywhere he looked he saw more destruction and desolation. “Can we leave now?” he asked. “I’ve seen enough desolation.”

“This journey is not yet over,” replied Eli. “You must endure a little longer, for your survival, and the survival of the world, depends upon it.”

They flew and stopped above another city, but this time closer to the ground. John immediately recognized it as Salt Lake City because he knew the landmark temple built by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Though covered with a thick layer o of ash, its architecture was unmistakable.

Ash was falling to the ground around him, and he was surprised to see that he couldn’t touch it, or that it didn’t accumulate on his robe. The large crystalline flakes looked like snow, only gray. And in true sunlight they might have looked beautiful. But the sky above was dark and gray, the sun all but hidden from view for many days to come.

Several feet of ash had already fallen on the city streets below. It covered everything as it accumulated on willing surfaces, or drifted high against the windward side of buildings and other stationary objects. There was movement below, but only that which was necessary for survival.

The eruption blast didn’t reach Salt Lake City, but the blanket of ash that fell upon it was sufficient to collapse many buildings, and choke the streets in an immovable layer. Like Boise, Salt Lake City was also in darkness. With ash piled nearly to the tops of the street signs, the only
illumination John saw was from a distant vehicle under an overpass, or the beam of a flashlight raking across the surface of a window.

Eli took John down to the ash level, and he immediately saw people looking at him from windows of a large office building. “They cannot see you,” said Eli, sparing John the trouble of asking.

John nodded and said, “It looks like they were caught completely off guard by the ash.” Eli said nothing and John resumed his visual inspection of the city. The smaller structures, those with wooden roofs, like homes, were crushed and buried under the weight of the ash. The sound of cracking timbers and collapsing structures reached his ears, but so too did the sound of desperate, screaming people.

John heard the sound of physical labor, and he turned to see a man breathing heavily as he walked by. The man was bearded, and large of stature, wearing ski goggles and a disposable breathing mask. His feet were clad in snowshoes, and he labored intensely under the weight of the canoe he pulled through the ash.

The canoe was covered, but John knew it was filled with supplies. The sound of the man’s snowshoes crunching into the ash, and the hiss of the canoe as it slid past, reminded John of his winter training in Alaska. Only this wasn’t snow. The ash wouldn’t melt and flow away. He realized an ash layer this heavy would likely stick around for a very long time.

The man reached an opening in an adjacent structure and paused. A light appeared from inside and he bent low to pass through the opening before disappearing into darkness with the canoe. The building he entered looked to John like a parking garage, but he wasn’t sure. He was just glad there were signs of life, even if it was much less than he hoped for.

John began to notice other activity as well, and all of it focused on adapting to a new and hostile survival environment. He was about to address Eli when he saw a woman with two small children pass between two buildings. They were wearing black, plastic trash bags as cover, and cloth masks covered their noses and mouths. As they struggled through
the ash they tried to cover their eyes with their hands, but movement was painfully slow and deliberate. John wanted to help them.

“You cannot help them,” said Eli.

John grunted and watched as the woman pushed doggedly through the ash with her children in tow. When she reached the broken window across the street, she passed her children through and then climbed in behind them. When they were out of sight, John turned to Eli and asked, “Can we go now?”

Eli nodded and took John’s hand. They traveled for a longer time, and during the trip John felt a powerful disturbance, or turbulence in the air around him. Soon they were surrounded by dark sky, and John could barely see Eli. He held tight to Eli’s hand and waited for the storm to pass. As the fabric of John’s robe began to pop and snap in the wind, he hollered to Eli, “What’s happening? Where are we?”

Eli’s voice filled John’s mind with, “Be calm, papa. You are in no danger with me. This is the energy wave that was generated by the eruption of the Caldera. It is already diminishing as we pass through the front.”

Indeed, moments later, John and Eli emerged from the dark and turbulent weather and flew into clear open air. John looked back and saw that they had passed through a large gray curtain of weather that spread from the ground, and climbed many thousands of feet into the upper atmosphere.

Below him was a vast and healthy prairie dotted with lush green crop lands. Traced across the green expanse were countless rivers, lakes and streams. The dark, straight lines of roads and highways could be seen intersecting nearby towns and cities of various sizes, but there was little traffic moving along the roads, so John and Eli descended to have a closer look.

John noticed that nearly all of the roads and highways were blocked. Some were blocked by fallen overpasses or collapsed fly-ways, but most were blocked by huge cracks and uneven road surfaces. Cars and trucks of all sizes sat abandoned on the roads because they were unable to
move. It was then that he saw a multitude of people walking along the shoulders of the roadways.