The Camouflaged Cross: Tales Of Christian Preppers In The End Times (Just Run Book 1) (22 page)

“OK, I’m feeling a little better,” Beth looked at Keira, Natalie and the others. “How are you guys feeling?” A few people wiped tears away, but the remainder of the group nodded in agreement.

The group sat quietly, sniffling and wiping tears. The mood improved somewhat.

“You know what I could use?” Beth asked Jesse, sounding more positive and trying to smile. “A Three Stooges movie. Or the Marx Brothers. Something silly that we can laugh at. Something funny.”

Justin, one of the so-called Happy Twins, spoke up. “I have a concert scheduled at the Eldorado Amphitheater in a few minutes. You are welcome to join us.” Justin held up and dangled the car keys. “That might be kind of silly. It might make you laugh.”

Tracy added, “Justin on the air drums, and I have been tuning up my air guitar. It should be a pretty good concert up there.”

Jesse smiled. “’Eldorado Amphitheater?’ Is that what you’re calling it now?”

Justin answered, “Yep, and people should bring their cigarette lighters, because they’re going to want an encore when we’re finished.”

Beth smiled. “I haven’t seen any of your shows yet, so this will be my first. They sound kind of funny. Who wants to join me?”

“OK, I’ll come,” Keira said, and looked at Natalie.

“Me too.” Several others nodded in agreement.

Melissa looked at Jesse and Mary. “Can I go too?”

Jesse looked at Beth. “Could you watch Melissa for us please?”

“OK.” Beth walked to Melissa. “Let’s go, Sweetie.”

“As the leader of this group,” Jesse said to the crowd as it began walking to the trail leading uphill and to the west, “I order you guys to have a good time up there. Work on your morale. That’s an order. Enjoy the show.”

****

Justin, Tracy, and ten fans for their performance made their way up the hiking trail to the Cadillac Eldorado convertible that one of the families drove uphill and far in the back of Jesse and Mary’s property before getting it stuck. The car was located so far back on the property that no one at the camp could hear the music played there. Justin got inside the car, started the engine, disconnected the front convertible roof locks and pushed the button on the dashboard to fold the roof back.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me present, Led Zeppelin! ‘D’yer Mak’er’!” Justin said to the people sitting down along the side of the car. He pushed his hits CD into the CD player, and turned the volume up high. He sat down on the top of the driver seat’s headrest and held two small, hard tree branches acted like he was playing drums on the top of the front windshield.

The song started with some drum beats that Justin matched exactly. He sang along with the song that he had heard so many times before. “Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, you don’t have to go!”

Tracy stood along the side of the car, and smiled as she watched Justin display his craft. Smiles broke out in the audience sitting next to the car.

*****

Jesse and Mary hiked up the steep trail on the way to the Cadillac, but stopped about fifty feet away, under the shade of some trees. They wanted to be near enough to watch the fun but yet far away enough so that they could talk and not disturb the party.

“You know,” Jesse began talking to Mary. “We have a great group of Christian preppers up here, and everyone has a skill or purpose to help everyone else. But there is something to be said about people whose best abilities are just to cheer other people up. Making people happy. That’s an important skill.”

Mary nodded.

“I think inviting Justin and Tracy was your idea, right?”

“Yeah. We didn’t know much about them, but it just felt right.”

“And of course being known around church as ‘the Happy Twins’ had an advantage.”

“Yeah, that’s true.”

Jesse and Mary looked behind them and saw David helping Lawson walk up the steep trail behind them. “Lawson wanted to see what all the fun was about,” David told Jesse and Mary as he helped Lawson walk by.

“Yeah, this looks fun,” Lawson agreed as he did his best to walk on the trail. “Let’s see if I can make it.”

“Let me know if you need any help, Lawson,” Jesse said.

“Thanks. I think he’ll make it,” David answered.

David and Lawson slowly walked closer to the car and Justin’s performance. Tracy jumped in front of everyone when the song had some guitar playing, and she acted like she was playing the guitar. It wasn’t so much that she was matching the guitar sounds with her imaginary guitar strumming, but it was her jumping around to the music, and her facial expressions that made it so entertaining. She bit her lower lip and acted like she was really fixated on playing her nonexistent guitar. More smiles broke out among the people sitting next to the car.

The Led Zeppelin song came to an end and the audience around the car applauded. Justina and Tracy bowed, which brought about some smiles and claps.

The next song began. It was the 70’s song ‘You Should Be Dancing.’ Justin and Tracy asked everyone to get up and start dancing to the song. First Beth, then Melissa began dancing, and were soon joined by a couple others. Those who remained seated smiled at the dancing.

“Oh, I think I’m going to have a 70’s song overload,” Jesse told Mary. “At least they got a smile out of Natalie.”

Mary got serious and looked at Jesse. “On a serious note, in a few days we have several people going out into the world. Leaving our camp here. Wallace, Kathy, David, and I think that’s it.”

“I think I’ll ask Sean to join them. I’m not convinced that Wallace won’t leave, and we need someone with some military experience or know-how to get David and Kathy back.”

“Assuming Kathy doesn’t stay with Wallace on the outside.”

“Yeah, they might be an item. Kathy might not be around here much longer.”

“Could be.”

“Peter would be better, because of his military experience, but we need to keep him nearby.”

“That’s true. Who knows what his medical issue is. He needs to stay right here.”

Jesse and Mary watched the dancing going on at the car for a few minutes. When Lawson and David arrived at the car, Lawson stood still but wiggled his arms in front of him, matching the beat of the song, in an attempt to dance with the others. This caused more laughter and smiles from everyone else there.

Jesse and Mary smiled at the dancing. “So what do you think Wallace and the others will see out there?” Mary asked Jesse.

“Oh, some hunger, death, desperation, and a lot of cruelty. Let’s face it, what they will see will probably be very ugly. I still can’t believe that column of smoke coming from town.” Jesse gestured to the south. “That is either some kind of slaughter or a forced migration out of town. Or both.”

“We need to make sure Wallace, Kathy and whoever goes with them know how important it is to stay invisible. Not be seen by anyone at all, and if they are noticed, not to talk about our compound up here. And certainly not to be followed back here.”

“Oh yeah, I’ll make sure David tells everyone else in the group that they need to stay invisible, not to get followed home. That kind of thing. That’s key.”

“Are you working on a list of things we need more of? Like more walkie-talkies and flashlights?”

“Oh yeah. Lois also said she will need more pool shock to make bleach. There are a couple other things too.”

The song ended and everyone clapped. Those who were dancing began to sit down. Lawson asked if the car stereo could be turned off and if everyone would be willing to sing the song ‘Amazing Grace.’ Jason turned off the car and everyone stood up and began to sing.

The crowd sang, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a retch like me…”

Mary lowered her voice and asked Jesse, “Speaking of stuff we are getting together up here, have you started to notice a pattern?”

Jesse watched the singing around the car for a few moments without answering. Without looking at Mary, he answered, “A pattern? Oh yeah, I have noticed a pattern, but I wanted to hear your theory first.”

The crowd at the car moved on to the second verse, which was not as well-known. The singing was fainter. They sang, “T’was grace that taught my heart to fear…”

Mary spoke to Jesse, “Well, we were worried about feeding forty people up here, and just three months before everyone came here, you filled up two storage containers with food.”

“And here I was, thinking I was so brilliant, because I was keeping track of what was going on in bankruptcy court. That ‘Prepper’s Wherehouse’ store went belly-up, and I bought their whole inventory for pennies on the dollar. Then I got it all delivered up here.”

“Oh you were brilliant, alright. It just wasn’t you.”

“Thanks.”

“Then we started talking about how we needed some serious guns and ammo, and within hours you get handed a few machine guns and ammunition. So good that some of the guns are military issue.”

“Those M4’s are totally cool. And I never thought I would own a single machine gun, let alone several.”

“We even talked about how we wanted everyone up here to take our situation more seriously, be a little paranoid. Remember that?”

“Yep.”

“And minutes later, we all get shot at. That has a way of convincing people to be concerned of their military situation.”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

“And just today, Wallace starts telling everyone that in so many words we need a drill sergeant, and a few minutes later a real drill sergeant stumbles into our camp, asking if he can stay and offering to help us do whatever we need him to do.”

The crowd singing at the car uphill finished the second verse of Amazing Grace. Lawson asked everyone to sing the final verse. No one knew the words, so it was only David and Lawson who sang this verse alone. They sang, “The world shall soon dissolve like snow, the sun forbear to shine …”

Jesse smiled at Mary. “Getting the food, guns, ammo and drill sergeant here right as we needed them were all amazing coincidences.”

“’Coincidence’ is what non-believers say. You’re kidding, right?”

“Of course I’m kidding,” Jesse said. “None of this was a coincidence. Not a bit of it.”

“Yeah, it seems like whatever we see a need for, within hours or even minutes, it’s delivered here and the need is solved.”

“Yeah, He has our back. I’ve been noticing His help. Whenever the need arises.”

“No kidding. In the past we’ve prayed about how He is all around us, and it always seemed to me a little metaphorical. This time it is literal. I feel like He’s right here, watching over us and making sure that we have what we need to survive.”

“I’ve felt it too.”

The singing at the car came to an end, and Lawson led the group in prayer.

“We’re going to have a very interesting End Times,” Jesse said to Mary.

“Interesting? Maybe. More like a very ‘divine’ End Times,” Mary answered.

Jesse paused, then looked at Mary and smiled. “Yeah, I think you’re right. The word is ‘divine.’ We’re going to have a very divine End Times.”

Jesse and Mary were both right. Within only a few days they would find out exactly how interesting and divine the End Times would be for them and their group.

END OF BOOK ONE

[T]he people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.

-- Daniel 11:32 (NKJV)

I wish to thank the following people for their help with the preparation and writing of this book:

Captain Patrick Weeks, Captain USMC 2009 – 2014, and founder of the website officercandidateschool.com, for advice on guns and all military matters.

Mark Goodwin, author of the books
The Days of Noah, Book One: Conspiracy
, and
The Days of Noah, Book Two: Persecution
, and owner/manager of the website Prepper Recon for marketing suggestions, giving abundant prepper advice and general encouragement. Prepper Recon also has some great podcasts. Watch for Mr. Goodwin’s soon-to-be-released book,
The Days Of Noah, Book Three: Perdition
.