The Camouflaged Cross: Tales Of Christian Preppers In The End Times (Just Run Book 1) (12 page)

“I guess I could do that,” DJ answered.

“Anyway, everyone, let’s all meet and share ideas about all this tomorrow afternoon. And who knows how long Wallace will be here.” Jesse nodded uphill to the shower. “Let’s get some pointers from him while he’s here.”

Someone in the group said, “No offense Jesse, but I heard Wallace is some kind of weird paramilitary guy or something. A survivalist.”

“Well, yeah,” Jesse answered. “Isn’t that what we are all doing up here, trying to survive?” Jesse tried to hold back a chuckle.

“OK. Good point.”

The crowd walked towards the campfire area for dinner.

****

Jesse and Mary sat down in a couple of the chairs in front of the grave.

“Wallace could have some good advice for us,” Jesse said. “I couldn’t imagine walking through town now and staying away from those gangs, but somehow Wallace did it.”

Wallace could be heard up the hill, singing while he took his shower. “When the roll, when the roll, is called up yonder,” Wallace sang. Mary smiled at Jesse.

“When the roll, when the roll is called up yonder I’ll be there…”

Jesse smiled back at Mary.

Wallace stopped singing. He called out, “Sturges, Wallace! Here!” The he sang, “When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more…”

Mary said, “Sounds like he’s calling his own roll right now, and then answering it.”

Jesse scratched his head. “Maybe he thinks he’s already in Heaven. And we’re going to get some survival advice from this guy? Great.”

“At least he’ll be good for a laugh or two. And let’s face it, we really need some laughs.”

Wallace finished the song, “When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.”

“So, are you glad we decided to open up the property?” May asked. “And invite all these people here?”

“Oh yeah. There is no way we could survive on our own. I’m sure problems will come up, but on balance, it is best to have a big group of Christian preppers here. And I like knowing we are helping them too.”

“And so far, the food situation is been pretty good. Remember, that was your biggest fear.”

“Oh yeah,” Jesse said. “God is good. We already had a good stockpile of food, and then most of the people who came up here also had their own stockpiles. A couple of shipping container’s worth of food. I never saw that happening. Of course I get a little tired of rice and beans all the time but it gets us through. Where God leads, He feeds.”

“Much more food than we had prayed for.”

“That’s for sure,” Jesse agreed. “And people like Wallace come through and add to things. That was different. I wasn’t planning on eating any fish with our rice and beans.”

“Yeah. One of the things we will have to ask him about is how he got to the lake off-road.”

Mary and Jesse sat in silence for a while, watching the others pass out bowls with dinner in front of the campfire, which seemed brighter now that the area was getting darker.

“And what about buying this property so that we could hide and fight back during the End Times? Was that a decision you still feel good about?” Mary asked.

“No question. If I were one of the early Christians in Rome, assuming I had a choice, I would go to the Catacombs, not the Coliseum.”

“I don’t think those guys fought. They just hid.”

“Well it’s the best analogy I have right now. Maybe if they did some fighting in the streets of Rome or something.”

“Some of the Christians in the Catacombs got killed anyway.”

“Yeah, well, and I hate to say it, but some of us might get killed. Who knows? It still hasn’t sunk in with me that they killed Kirk just right down the hill from our property. Did you ever think someone would get killed out here?

“Well, yes, but I know what you mean.”

“It just seems like yesterday we bought this place. Remember that?”

“Yes, nothing was here,” Mary paused. “Just … nothing.”

“And now we have a pretty good Christian prepper group here, and we’re worried about outsiders coming up.” Jesse looked at Mary. “I guess it’s serious now. Someone got killed right in front of our property. And he was a friend of ours.”

“Well, this is what we have been planning for. We knew this would happen. We knew that that this property would someday go from being a picnic and hiking place to a survival hangout.”

“All those so-called birth pangs happening, like anthrax getting crop-dusted in town and the railroads getting sabotaged and causing derailments. And I would pray ‘Lord, come quickly.’ Well, now He is coming. No doubt about it. I wish it were quicker, but He is definitely coming now.”

“Yep, the End Times are definitely here.”

“And this property really feels different to me now. It will take some time to get used to this place being a life or death place.” Jesse paused. “We’re in danger here, you know.”

“That’s true.”

“If I could change one thing, I’d make it so that our group appreciates the urgency of our situation up here. A little paranoia would be nice.”

“Yep.”

“Of course, Christians have been in danger worldwide for some time now. We’re in the most-persecuted religion in the world, more than the Jews. Now we’re in danger up here, maybe the last holdout area. But at least up here we have a fighting chance. And I feel like God has guided us. He really wants us to be here, surviving.”

“I feel it too.”

“And who knows, maybe someday,” Jesse said, “our supplies might run low, but for now we are in good shape with food, supplies, ways to stay clean, blankets, sleeping bags…”

“Yeah, I always thought that a month after moving up here we wouldn’t be this clean. I guess we could use some darker clothes. I don’t know, something that would blend in better. Our crowd here wears a lot of pastels and whites, and something tells me that won’t last.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Some camouflaged clothing would be nice,” Jesse answered. “We could also use some more guns though. Combat guns. That might be a shortage we have now, and it could make a difference. We seem to have nothing but pistols here and there, and a couple of 22 rifles. Oh, David has a FN-FAL rifle. And I have my shotgun.” Jesse looked back at the crowd downhill. “We’re going to need some more rifles to protect ourselves up here. Something like that AR-15 Wallace has. He’s got a nice rifle. And the additions he did to it. Nice.”

“I think you have rifle envy.”

“Well, I’m a guy. It’s a guy thing.”

Mary smiled.

“But yeah, we could use some more serious rifles like that one. And some ammo too.”

“That would be nice.”

“I just want to make sure that if, God forbid, we get killed, we go down fighting. And maybe take down a few of the scumbags with us.”

“What state were you born in, again?” Mary joked. “That’s the Texan coming through.”

“You know, well,” Jesse began. “I know we have talked about this a few hundred times, but Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation were put in the Bible for a reason. Not just conversation.”

“Right. We’ve been warned. Jesus warned us.”

“And we have been told what to do. Jesus told his followers to run. Not just sit there and get captured and killed. We all made it up here but I kind of feel bad that we don’t seem to have enough rifles.”

“Yeah, Jesus was pretty urgent about it. He even told people to not even bother getting their coat. Just run.”

“Cloak.”

“What?” Mary looked confused.

“In Matthew 24, Jesus said to run and don’t even go back for your cloak, not coat.” Jesse smiled.

“Well, whatever.”

****

“Hey everyone, this is Wallace,” Jesse announced to the crowd of people around the campfire who were eating rice and beans. “He caught the fish that is part of your dinner.”

It was dark outside but everyone could see Wallace in the light from the campfire. Wallace, now clean-shaven, wore his green camouflage clothes and hat as before and carried his black backpack, rifle and machete.

“Hi everyone,” Wallace said. Scattered “Hi Wallace” greetings could be heard from the crowd.

“Hi Wallace, I’m Kathy,” Kathy walked forward and gave Wallace a bowl of rice and beans.

“Oh thanks,” Jesse said as he laid down his backpack, rifle and machete on to the ground and accepted the bowl from Kathy.

“Here’s a spork,” Kathy said, handing Wallace a spork.

“Oh, that’s nice,” Wallace said, taking a bite. “Hey, what’s that? Spices?”

“Yes, we mixed in some creole spices with your fish. We always try to make things taste a little different.”

“This is incredible. Creole spices. I love it! It’s been a long time since I have had anything with spices.”

“Yes, without spices, we’d probably notice that we’re pretty much eating the same thing every day,” Kathy joked.

Wallace nodded and smiled.

“So Wallace, how have you been surviving out there? Word has it you have been lurking around in the countryside for weeks, eating wild honey and locusts or something.”

“Ha!” Wallace laughed. “I stocked up a bunch of food of my own, and I made a bunch of energy bars to carry with me.”

“Energy bars?” Kathy smiled. “That’s pretty smart.”

“Oh, not really. A few years ago I read a book on the subject and started stocking up.”

“Just what is your history, Wallace?” Kathy looked Wallace up and down. “Are you married or something? I don’t see a wedding ring. What about kids?”

“Well, I --”

“And then you come wondering in here with a bunch of fish. Pretty bizarre,” Kathy kidded.

“So what’s your story, Kathy? I think I saw you around church a couple times. You’re in real estate or something, right? Well, used to be, before all this started.”

“Oh, I was a bottom-feeder,” Kathy looked into the distance, a bit bored describing her former occupation. “Businesses that were about to go under would give me a call and I would check out their numbers. If I saw anything worth saving I would try and work something out. It was a good gig.” She looked back at Wallace. “Nothing as exciting as what you used to do, I’m sure.”

“I was a specialty home-builder.”

“Specialty?”

“One at a time. For a while I built homes for the tract-home builders, then I started on my own home-building business. I would build houses one at a time. Five bedrooms on up, game rooms, wine cellars, in-law apartments, whatever. I have worked with some of the guys here.” Wallace looked into the crowd. “Like Mike over there. He did some drywall for me.”

“A mansion-builder. See, that’s what I’m talking about,” Kathy smiled. “Let’s face it, your life sounds pretty exciting.”

“Yep, that’s me alright,” Wallace smiled.

“A real man of adventure. And I’ll bet your houses were all made of brick and steel.”

Peter walked towards Wallace and Kathy, holding his bowl and spork. “Hi, Wallace, I guess you met Kathy here.” Peter looked serious.

“Oh yes,” Wallace smiled and looked at Kathy. “She’s has been very impressed with my line of work. Very impressed.”

“He’s a pretty exciting guy, let’s face it,” Kathy kidded.

“Oh, right,” Wallace laughed.

Peter was still serious. “Kathy helped me retrieve Kirk’s body. She was a big help.”

Kathy’s expression turned from friendly to serious. She looked at Wallace. “I heard Wallace had a run-in with one of the types of guys who killed Kirk.”

“Yes,” Wallace answered. “That was my last time in town. Two weeks ago.”

“And it didn’t end well for the other guy,” Kathy said. “You killed the guy, right?”