The Camouflaged Cross: Tales Of Christian Preppers In The End Times (Just Run Book 1) (19 page)

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.”