Frantic (10 page)

“Try to eat,” Vicki said. “You're both going to get skinny if you don't.”

Pete pulled out and drove the truck cautiously along the country road. Vicki opened Lenore's package and found a notebook. She opened it and read:
I took shorthand in college too. I think I got just about everything in here. May God use you mightily in the coming days. Love, Lenore
.

Inside Vicki found her complete sessions with Carl. Every word, all three days, printed perfectly.
So that's what she was working on,
Vicki thought.

9

VICKI
couldn't believe the room in the truck. Pete drove, Carl rode in the passenger seat, and Vicki, Shelly, and Conrad sat behind them in the sleeper. The truck had a satellite hookup for phone and video, an onboard computer, and a citizens band radio. Pete showed Vicki how to access the Internet through the satellite, and the kids surfed the Net as the truck rolled through Illinois and Indiana on its way south.

The interstates were a disaster in some places and fine in others. In the more populated areas, GC crews had repaired roads. Other areas hadn't been as hard hit by the earthquake. But nearly every overpass in Indiana had collapsed. Pete would take each exit and return to the highway on the other side of the collapsed bridge.

The road was nearly deserted. Other than a few large trucks and an occasional car, they were alone. “We're going to make good time,” Pete said.

The kids picked up satellite reports from GC news sources. Other countries had suffered the same fate as the state of Illinois. Streets were deserted. People suffered. In South Africa, a news van passed a row of houses, and a high-powered microphone picked up the howls and sobs from inside. A doctor interviewed in China, who had the mark of the believer, showed beds filled with people who had tried to kill themselves. They drove cars into concrete walls, drank poison, cut their wrists, sat in garages with cars running, leaped into deep water, even jumped from high buildings in attempts to take their own lives. Though some of the patients' bodies were torn and bleeding, not one of them had died.

Vicki turned away from the monitor and watched the passing towns. In Kentucky, horses ran by the road.

“Earthquake destroyed a lot of fences,” Pete said. “The farmers almost had them repaired when the locusts came. Now the horses are running wild.”

Night fell and Vicki felt the familiar pop in her ears as they climbed the Smoky Mountains. A few years earlier she had traveled with her family in a small RV her father had borrowed from a friend. Her dad wanted to take the family to Orlando to a theme park, but the vehicle had broken down in Georgia. They spent the entire vacation in a little hotel about fifty miles from the ocean, waiting for the RV to be fixed.

As she drifted off to sleep in the truck, Vicki recalled how much she had complained about that trip. Her mom and dad weren't Christians at the time and they both drank a lot of beer. The pool at the hotel was the size of a postage stamp, there was no cable TV, and the air conditioner only cooled the room to eighty degrees.

“This is worse than staying home in our trailer!” Vicki had yelled one night. “You said we'd see the ocean.”

“I said a lotta things,” Vicki's father said, “but this is outta my control.”

Then the screaming had begun. The family next door called the manager and the manager called the police. Vicki wound up running out of the hotel and walking a lonely road most of the night. She hated being poor. She hated her parents for messing up their lives. And she hated being stuck in a hot hotel room with her little sister, Jeanni. To make matters worse, Jeanni was having a great time.

The police didn't arrest anyone that night, and the RV was fixed a few days later, but her parents had used all their vacation money on the hotel. They canceled the rest of the trip.

“Please let us go by the ocean,” Vicki had pleaded as they started their long drive home. What Vicki's father did next shocked her. It still surprised her, just thinking about it. He pulled the RV to the side of the road, backed up, and turned around.

“You kids are gonna get your feet in the Atlantic if it's the last thing I do,” he said.

Jeanni had screamed with delight when they saw the water. It was the first time she had seen anything bigger than Lake Michigan. They parked and Vicki took off her shoes and ran to the shoreline, digging her toes in the wet sand. She picked up a few shells and stuffed them in her pocket.

She looked back and saw her mother and father at the RV, shouting at each other. Vicki walked into the water. She wanted to keep going, just walk until the water was over her head.

“What are you doing?” her father screamed, standing by the shore. “Get back here!”

Vicki waded back, a wave toppling her when she turned. Her dad grabbed her arm as she went under and pulled her up, her hair wet with the salty water. Then he smiled.

It had been such a long time since Vicki had remembered her father's smile. The events since the disappearances had kept her so busy she didn't think much about the past. But now, with the rumble of the diesel engine and the shaking of the truck cab, she let herself go back. She remembered little things like her dad's stale-beer breath, the brand of cigarettes he smoked, and little Jeanni's screams as Vicki chased her around the house. She remembered the laundry her mother used to hang on a line by the trailer. Seeing one of her shirts or a pair of pants flapping in the breeze had always embarrassed Vicki.

But there had been moments, even before her mom believed in Christ, when they sat at the kitchen table and talked. Vicki's mom had shared some of her dreams that would never come true. Vicki tried to listen and say helpful things, but sooner or later another fight would start, and her mother would grab a bottle and Vicki would slam her bedroom door.

“Do you want something to eat?” Vicki heard someone say.

“Mom?” Vicki mumbled. She opened her eyes and saw Shelly. They were sitting in front of a truck stop.

“I'm not your mother,” Shelly laughed. “Come on. Sun's coming up. We're in North Carolina. You've been sleeping all night.”

The truck stop was almost empty. There was no one healthy enough to work in the diner, so Pete picked out some packaged food and paid for the fuel.

“How much longer?” Vicki said as they sat in a grimy booth at the back of the restaurant.

“We'd be about eight hours away under normal conditions,” Pete said. “With the damage from the earthquake and the tidal wave after the meteor, we'll be lucky to get there by nightfall.”

While Pete rested in the passenger seat, Carl got behind the wheel. He looked scared of all the gears at first, then seemed to get used to them. Locusts skittered among the trees as they drove through the mountains. Carl slowed as locusts flew toward the windshield. Once they saw everyone's mark, the locusts flew away.

By late afternoon Pete awoke and took the wheel as they crossed the South Carolina border. Ruins of destroyed homes littered the roadside. Tiny shacks with signs advertising shrimp and crabs had sprung up. Then the scenery changed. Through the palmetto trees, Vicki saw the expanse of water she had dreamed about.

“This whole area was devastated by the wave,” Carl said. “Changed everything.”

“How did the GC keep their military buildings?” Conrad said.

“Most of them were destroyed,” Carl said. “Had to be rebuilt from the ground up. A few made it through.”

Pete opened his window and an ocean breeze blew through the cab. Vicki closed her eyes. She could almost hear the water lapping at the shoreline.

“Can we stop and get out?” Vicki said.

Pete turned and eyed her.

“It's been so long since I've been in salt water. It'll just be for a minute.”

Pete smiled and pulled to the side of the road. A sandy path led through what had been a small park. A crooked teeter-totter and monkey bars were all that remained.

“Enjoy yourself,” Pete said. “We'll stay here for the night.”

Vicki, Shelly, and Conrad took off their shoes and jogged down the path. They stretched their legs and raced to the edge of the water. Vicki closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She could almost hear her family from years ago. When she looked at the horizon, the sun dipped below the salt marshes and sea oats. The tidal wave had changed what people had built, but it couldn't take away the natural beauty God had created. The sky turned a purplish orange as the sun faded.

Carl came running onto the beach and kicked water at the others. “Pete says dinner's about ready. And good news. We're pretty close to the location where the group I was telling you about is supposed to meet. Thought we'd head over that way a little later and see if we can find anybody.”

Pete boiled shrimp and made sandwiches for everyone. Vicki didn't know how to peel the shell off the shrimp, so Carl showed her. Soon the kids were full.

“What's this place called?” Vicki said.

“We're near Beaufort,” Carl said. “We'll drive down by the river and you can see some of the old mansions. A few of them are still standing.”

“What about the believers?” Shelly said. “You think they meet somewhere near here?”

Carl pulled out a map of the area with a red circle around a nearby town. “The report we had said they met in an old Christian radio station near Port Royal.”

Pete helped Carl pull motorcycles from the back of the truck. “I'm bushed. Going to get some shut-eye. You kids be careful.”

Carl and Vicki rode ahead of Conrad and Shelly. They found Main Street in Beaufort, and though much of it had been washed away, Vicki could tell how beautiful it once was. Mansions dating back to the Civil War had somehow survived the massive onslaught of water after the meteor. A few shops remained but were darkened.

Carl checked his map again and rode farther south. Spanish moss hung from live oak trees that lined the road. The radio station was small. Pine needles and branches covered the driveway. When the motorcycles stopped, Vicki heard insects singing their evening song. A light flickered inside the building, then went out. Something scurried in the leaves.

“What was that?” Shelly said.

“Probably an egret or a heron,” Carl said. “Most of the deer and the foxes were killed by the wave.”

A short-necked bird with red eyes darted overhead. Vicki screamed and jumped back.

“It's just a night heron,” Carl said. “It's OK.”

Carl walked up the concrete steps and tried the door. It was locked. He knocked softly. Conrad went around the side of the building to look in a window. When no one answered Carl's knock, he called out, “We've come to help you. Let us in.”

Conrad shuffled around the corner, his hand behind his back. Behind him was a burly young man. He had sandy hair and arms like tree limbs. He held Conrad's arm with one hand and had a knife in the other.

“Throw down your guns and anything else you got,” the boy said, “or this guy's history.”

The kids put up their hands. “We don't have any weapons with us,” Carl said.

“I know that uniform. You're GC.”

Vicki stepped forward. The boy's face was shaded from the moonlight. “Are you a believer?” she said.

“Tom, get a flashlight out here now!” the boy shouted.

Another boy, shorter but just as athletic, opened the door. He shone a light on Carl's forehead and on the rest of the group. The teen holding Conrad let go. “Didn't know we'd have other believers visiting or we'd have cooked you guys some dinner.”

“Let me apologize for my brother,” the shorter one said. “I'm Tom Gowin. This is Luke. Come in.”

The kids shook hands and entered the tiny building. Seven other kids stood in a circle around an old radio transmitter. Vicki loved their accent and was excited to have found other believers.

“We came to warn you,” Carl said. “The Global Community knows about this group and has a good idea where—”

“We know,” Tom said. “They came here just before the big bugs did.”

“They took some of our supplies and dumped the rest in front,” Luke said. “I think they were gonna torch the place.”

“What happened?” Vicki said.

“Didn't have the chance,” Tom said. “Sky opened up and poured some of God's little demons on their heads. Those GC went flyin' outta here. Don't think they'll be back anytime soon.”

“They'll be back,” Carl said. He explained what he knew about the GC plan to locate and capture believers. “They're targeting people who are spreading the message.”

“People like Dr. Ben-Judah,” Tom said.

“Right,” Vicki said. “But Tsion is safe. The Trib Force won't let—”

“You talk like you know him,” Tom said.

“We do,” Vicki said, and from the beginning she explained how the kids had been left behind and eventually met the famous rabbi from Israel.

“I can't believe you actually know him,” one of the other kids said.

“We read his Web site before the tidal wave hit,” Tom said. “Haven't been able to get the computer working since.”

“How did you survive the wave?” Conrad said.

“Long story,” Tom said. “Had to go inland a couple hundred miles and when we came back . . . well, you can see what happened.”

Luke stepped forward. “Can you tell us what's going on with the Tribulation Force? We want to be a part of it, but there's so much we don't know.”

Carl looked at Vicki and smiled. “Where's your notebook?”

10

AFTER
Judd and the others arrived at Yitzhak's house, they hid the car and spent a few days keeping out of sight. As Tsion Ben-Judah had predicted, people were busy avoiding the locusts or were hurting from their stings.

Jamal was concerned for the kids' safety, but he didn't seem as peeved as before. Sam was dejected about his father.