The Camouflaged Cross: Tales Of Christian Preppers In The End Times (Just Run Book 1) (18 page)

“Keira, this place is our only hope.” She hugged Keira. “Try to stay strong.”

Beth looked behind Keira and saw Wallace quickly walking as he carried Bill, with Kathy pressing Bill’s head to stop the bleeding. Beth stood up and turned around, looking behind her, towards the main part of the camp.

“Lois!” Beth yelled.

“Where’s the nurse?” Wallace asked Beth.

“Beth, where is Lois?” Kathy asked.

“Probably working on Mike,” Beth answered. “Mike got shot.”

Jesse was nearby, helping to set up a tent. “What happened to him?” Jesse yelled, louder than necessary. His hearing was still compromised. “I was just talking to him a few minutes ago and he was fine. What happened?”

“He got shot,” Kathy answered. “We need to get him to Lois.”

“Jesse,” Wallace stopped walking near Jesse. One of the men’s dogs, a German Shepard, approached and sniffed Wallace. “Apparently one guy from the helicopter fell out up the road. He shot at us and hit Bill when we were walking nearby.”

Sean approached, alerted from the excited sounds nearby. “What happened to him?”

“Look,” Wallace yelled at both Jesse and Sean. “What I’m trying to say is that there might be another scumbag or two in the woods here. I don’t know. The guy who shot Bill fell out of that helicopter and he was waiting in the woods next to the road up there. I killed him but there might be another one or two who fell out of the chopper.”

“Oh come on …” Jesse sounded like he was complaining. “More killers out here?” He turned to Sean. “Sean, we need you. Can you go with someone and check around to see if anyone else fell out of that chopper? They might be hanging around in the woods here to kill us.”

“Yeah.” Sean looked around. “Anyone know where Peter is?” Sean hurriedly walked back towards the campfire area.

“This really sucks,” Jesse complained.

“I’ll take you to where Lois is,” Beth volunteered to Wallace. “Come on.” They followed Sean into the main part of the camp.

****

Gloria searched in vain for the laundry she had only hours ago put up on a clothesline to dry. “My laundry is gone!” she yelled out, assuming everyone wanted to know. “Just vanished! I washed it, put it up here to dry, and some helicopter comes by and … now it’s all gone. Disappeared! If anyone finds my and David’s clothing, let me know!”

“I hate to tell ya,” someone answered. “But you and David spent way too much on clothes anyway. I mean, we have this end of the world retreat up here, and you and David show up with designer clothing. Kind of awkward. You guys should have shopped for clothes at BJ’s or Walmart.”

“Oh that’s funny,” Gloria answered, half mad and half amused. “Look,” she argued back, “last I checked, the book of Revelation does not have a dress code.”

“I found a t-shirt,” Jose said as he approached Gloria with a white t-shirt. “Looks like you might need to wash it again.”

“Thanks Jose,” Gloria said, then looked around. “Everyone keep your eyes open for my clothes, OK?”

Nearby, Jim toiled on the top of his RV trailer, trying to fill in the gunshot hole in his trailer roof with caulk. “I just can’t get this caulk to set in place!” he angrily announced to everyone nearby. “Now I will have a leak in this thing. Every time it rains.” Jim stood up straight, acting like he had something profound to announce. “I tell ya, all Muslims are scum. Total scum! Every last one of them.”

Lawson, who was walking nearby with the help of David, corrected Jim. “Don’t be hating. The Bible says for us to pray for those who persecute you.”

Jim jumped off the top of his trailer and approached Lawson. “Lawson, what do you know about war or being shot at? We are in a totally different kind of war here. What kind of war were you in?”

David intervened. “He enlisted in the Navy in World War Two and also in Korea.”

“Oh, tough guys,” Jim mocked Lawson. “The Navy waited around for the atom bomb to be dropped and then they came ashore to clean things up.”

“Hey,” David stepped between Lawson and Jim. “Back off, Jim! Lawson’s a war hero.”

Jim angrily looked at David. “Why should I, Davy? What are you going to do to me Davy, piss on me?” Jim pushed David’s shoulder provocatively.

“Maybe I will,” David said as he punched Jim in the jaw. Jim punched back and the two grabbed each other and rolled on the ground. Cries of “hey!” could be heard from several people nearby as David and Jim fought.

Chuck and DJ stepped in and pulled David and Jim off of each other and pushed them away from each other on the ground. Several others crowded around, calling for calm and an end to the fighting.

Jesse rushed over and angrily looked at Jim. The crowd nearby went quiet. Jesse pointed his finger into Jim’s face, only a few inches away. “There might not be any more rule of law,” Jesse said in a low-pitched voice and extremely angry, “but this is still my property and I can throw you off of it.”

David, sitting nearby and checking the blood on his lip, said, “Jesse, he’s OK. Just let it go. Our nerves are just worn out. I don’t think anyone up here has ever been shot at. Just leave him alone.” Another few more seconds passed, with Jesse motionless, pointing at Jim. The crowd nearby stood in silence.

Jesse shook his head, as if waking from a trance. “Alright, I’m sorry. You’re right. We need you Jim. I’m really sorry.” Jesse reached down and pulled Jim to his feet.

“No problem,” Jim said. “I guess I let my mouth loose for a while and I shouldn’t have.”

David stood up. “Hey, I’m sorry, Jim.” He reached out his hand to shake hands with Jim.

“Alright, I’m sorry, David. I’m really sorry. I was dumb. Are you OK?” They shook hands. “And Lawson, I apologize to you too.”

“That’s quite alright,” Lawson answered gently. “But for the record, I have been shot at before.”

*****

Wallace and Kathy found Lois, who had just finished stitching up the wounds on both sides of Mike’s left arm. Lois looked up. “Oh no -- was he shot too?”

“Yeah, just a few minutes ago,” Wallace reported as he brought Bill to Lois.

“Let me see him.”

Wallace went to one knee next to Lois so that Lois could look at Bill’s temple. Kathy lifted the bundled shirt she had been using to stop the bleeding.

“It doesn’t look like the bullet penetrated his skull,” Lois reported. “We still need to stop the bleeding. Has he been passed out since this happened?”

“In and out,” Kathy said. “He said a few things after it happened and then he passed out.”

“What do you think? Will he make it?” Wallace asked.

“I don’t know. I hope so, but it doesn’t look too good. We won’t know for a while.” Lois looked behind her. “Kathy, could you hand me my bag please?”

“I don’t see it.”

“That black leather bag over there.”

“Oh, I got it.”

“Thanks.” Lois looked at Bill. “Why don’t you put him down,” she said to Wallace. “You’re Wallace, right?”

“Right.” Wallace laid Bill onto the ground, and put the rolled up shirt under Bill’s head.

Lois reached into her bag and pulled out a small bottle and a bandage. She poured some liquid from the bottle onto the bandage and then patted the wound with the wet bandage. The wound had stopped bleeding. Lois then pulled a needle and dark thread out of her bag and started stitching the cut.

Jesse, Andrew and several other people walked towards Lois. “Remember everyone,” Jesse announced, we’ll have a camp-wide meeting today after lunch.” Jesse looked at Lois, stitching Bill’s forehead. “How’s it look, Lois?”

“I’ve seen worse. But it would be nice if he came to.”

Jesse looked at Kathy. “It looks like Kathy did a good job of stopping the bleeding.”

“Thanks.”

One of the teenage girls nearby said to Andrew, “Pretty exciting stuff up here, huh Andrew?” Andrew looked at her. “I mean, getting shot at and all. More exciting than the days when you were homeless and hooked on meth.”

Andrew looked down. Jesse was outraged. “I did not just hear that, did I?” Jesse looked at the girl. “No way you just said that.” The girl turned away.

“Hey, shut up.” Wallace angrily said to the girl. “Andrew’s a good man.”

Jesse looked at everyone around him and raised his voice. “Will everyone here please keep their heads on? Please? Is that asking too much?” He shrugged his shoulders. “You know, we get shot at, we survive it all, but now we’re turning on each other. Let’s keep our wits about us, people. Let’s stick together. OK? Try to remember that we’re on the same team!”

“Yeah, leave Andrew alone.” Wallace sounded angry. “When I leave here I’ll remember this camp as the camp that fought off a helicopter attack but then turned against itself. This is ridiculous.”

“Why? Where are you going?” Kathy asked.

“I’m going to check on my friend. The guy whose house I built. You know, the one whose wife’s necklace I found in the chopper.”

“Oh yeah.”

“I might also check out what happened in town. From a distance.”

“You’re welcome to stay here for a while,” Jesse suggested. “I was hoping you could be at the meeting and talk with us about some military issues. You know, stuff we should do. We don’t really know where to start.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Wallace answered. “I could wait a few days.”

“Hey, what are you doing?” Bill woke up and asked Lois. He sounded annoyed.

“Oh, good to see you’re awake,” Lois said. “You are awake now, right?”

“I guess.”

“Bill, do you have any allergies? We’re going to have to give you some antibiotics.”

“None that I know of.”

“Good.” Lois cut the dark thread and finished the stitching.

“It stings,” Bill said. “And I’m thirsty.” Bill looked at the group of people nearby. “Could someone get me some water please?”

“Those are good signs, right Lois?” Kathy sounded hopeful.

“Oh yes. Awake and thirsty are good signs.”

****

CHAPTER 22

Everyone except DJ and Andrew, whose turn it was to be at the observation post, was at the meeting. DJ and Andrew were told to use the walkie-talkies and listen to everything discussed.

The group met at the location of Kirk’s funeral, less than 24 hours earlier. Some of the group members were still in shock from the gunfire a few hours before, and dabbed the tears on their faces with rags and handkerchiefs. Various small groups conversed as they waited for the meeting to begin.

Jesse stood in front of the group, and all chatter stopped. He held up a walkie-talkie and talked into it. “DJ, can you hear me?”

“Yes,” DJ could be heard in the speaker.

“OK, I’ll get someone here to keep the button pushed so you can hear what is said.”

“OK.”

Jesse looked to those sitting in front. “Chuck, could you please be in charge of this walkie-talkie?”

“Sure.”

“And check back with DJ every few minutes to make sure that nothing is going on at the roadblock.”

“Will do.”

“Alright,” Jesse addressed the group. “Before we start the meeting let’s go to prayer.” Everyone bowed their heads. “Heavenly Father, we thank You for this day and the protection You have given us. We thank You for our group of fellow Christians we have up here, the food we have and the comforts we have, none of which we would have thought that we would have up here at this time. We ask that You continue to bless our group, bless our fellowship, and bless the planning and training that we have ahead of us. We also hold up and ask for a special blessing for Mike and Bill, who were shot in the attack. We ask for Your healing for these two men. We also ask for reuniting with family members, like Bill’s parents, and a few others. I also want to thank You that my hearing is back. We also ask that You keep us close, keep our emotions positive, and calm the nerves of all of us up here, as we have just gone through an attack that most of us has ever experienced, and it has left our nerves pretty raw. In Jesus’ name, amen.”