Tribulation: An Apocalyptic End-Times Thriller (Kingdom of Darkness Book 1)

by Mark Goodwin

  “Come on, let’s get a boat and get out there so we can bring it back in.”

  Emilio looked out from the door of the cockpit to see Mackenzie crouched down. “They’re coming. Get your pistol ready.”

  “Can’t you start the motor?” she asked.

  “I’m thinking that may have been why it was in the repair shop in the first place, engine trouble.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Oh, that’s great!”

  Emilio took the long pole with the hook. He held it down in the water and pushed against the bottom to get them farther out into the river.

  “Is this your plan, Huckleberry?”

  He hated the nickname now even more than when it had been assigned to him over the high-water pants. “If you have a better idea, I’m all ears.”

  “Those guys, they’re on the boat!” she said.

  Emilio felt the river bottom disappear under the pole. He laid it on the deck of the boat and took cover. He drew his pistol and waited for the retrieval vessel to approach.

  Scrunched down next to him, Mackenzie gripped her gun. “So, we’re going to have a shootout?”

  “Unless they stand down. We’re committed at this point. I don’t see any other way around it.” He heard the boat getting closer. He gave Mackenzie a nod. “Now!”

  Emilio popped around from behind the concealment of the wheelhouse, pointing his gun at the on-coming craft. “Back off, or we’ll shoot!”

  Mackenzie kept low, revealing only her pistol and the top half of her head.

  “Whoa!” yelled the older man steering the other boat. “Don’t shoot!”

  Another of the men pointed at the tug where Emilio was standing. “You can’t take that! It ain’t yours!”

  Emilio pointed the gun at him. “We’re borrowing it. We need to get across the river. We’ll tie it off downstream about ten miles. Return to your garage for two hours. Then you can come get it. If you pursue us any further, I’ll be forced to shoot.”

  The old man steering the retrieval crew waved at Emilio. “Don’t even bother. We ain’t ever gonna get the parts for that thing no how. Not after all this mess.”

  The second man laughed. “Yeah, good luck with getting to the other side, idiot.”

  A third man, older than the one driving, cackled. “And watch out for them currents. Earthquake did a number on the river bottom. You’ll be lucky if you don’t get capsized and sucked under, much less making it to the other side.”

  The old man driving turned the larger tug around.

  The fourth man, full of spit and vinegar like the second, laughed. “Next time, steal a boat that runs!”

  Emilio clenched his jaw while he watched the other boat pull away.

  Mackenzie lowered her gun slowly. “Is he serious? About getting capsized?”

  Emilio looked at the pace the current was pulling them. “He was probably just trying to rattle us. It would take a pretty big wave to flip a boat like this.” Emilio looked over the side, feeling more confident about his assessment. “A kayak might possibly keel over from a strong current, but not something like this.”

  The boat drifted swiftly, and the trees on the opposite bank passed by. The boat had been floating backward, but the bow began to shift. The vessel got sideways and began to pitch toward the starboard side.

  Mackenzie looked nervous. “You’re sure about that?”

  He felt a moment of doubt but knew it wouldn’t help matters. “Yeah, I’m positive. Go to the other side of the boat.” Both of them walked around to the port side and the small tug leveled out. Likewise, the speed fell off dramatically.

  Emilio looked both ways. The banks seemed to be equidistant from the boat, about a quarter-mile away each. He guessed they were floating at about three miles per hour.

  “Why did we slow down?” Mackenzie asked.

  Emilio peered into the murk but could see nothing below the surface. “Who knows? The earthquake could have pushed up a huge rock under the water that caused the current to accelerate in that area. Or, it could be a large section of a bridge or other debris that got caught up on the river bottom. Whatever it is could be catching more debris and forming like an underwater dam.”

  She looked out in front of them. “Whatever it was could happen again, right?”

  Emilio hoped not. “It’s unlikely, but I suppose anything is possible.”

  She asked, “How far down are we going to go?”

  Emilio looked at the billowing smoke from multiple fires to the east. “Ten miles should get us past the worst of the chaos going on in Louisville.”

  “Then we wave our magic wand and miraculously come ashore on the other side?”

  Emilio opened the door of the wheelhouse. “Unless they took the rudder off, we should still have steering.”

  She watched him take the wheel. “Why might they take the rudder off?”

  “Maybe if they had to remove the prop and the rudder was in the way. I don’t know much about boats. But I suspect they would have taken it out of the water if they were doing that kind of work.” Emilio turned the wheel and the boat instantly responded.

  “Awesome!” Mackenzie exclaimed. “This could have gone a lot worse!”

  “You can say that again.” Emilio looked toward Heaven. He recalled all the times Josh had given thanks to God for watching over the team and getting them out of tight spots. He wondered if perhaps it had been providence that had seen them through this current predicament. He whispered, “If this was You, thanks.”

  CHAPTER 10

  And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

  Genesis 6:5-6

  Emilio watched the vague luminescence of the sun behind the muddy cloud of dust and smoke. “The river is turning west up ahead. I’m going to start looking for a spot to beach the boat as soon as we pass this coal-fired power plant.”

  “Have we been ten miles?”

  “At least.” Emilio steered the boat toward the port side. “Probably more like twelve.”

  Mackenzie walked toward the bow and looked for a good place to run aground. “Beyond those barges, I think I see a clearing.”

  Emilio directed the vessel to the spot where she was pointing. Soon, the place she indicated came into view. “Perfect. It almost looks like a little beach.”

  As they crept toward the bank of the river, the boat slowed. Emilio took off his boots and rolled up his pants. “Come hold the wheel. I’ll jump off and pull us to shore.”

  She looked at his exposed calves. “You got it, Huck.”

  He pressed his lips together and grabbed the rope at the bow of the vessel. He checked for sharp objects before stepping into the water, but it was too opaque to see clearly. He put his foot down cautiously and pulled the boat to shore. He tied the rope off to a nearby tree and retrieved his boots and garbage bag of a rucksack.

  Mackenzie untied her bag while she waited for Emilio to put his boots back on. “Can I interest you in a moldy pineapple jelly roll?”

  Emilio tied his laces. “Believe it or not, I’m actually hungry enough to eat one of those.”

  Mackenzie passed him one of the stale buns. “I picked off the blue spots for you.”

  “That’s a kindness that will be remembered.” He bit into the unappetizing concoction, gathered his gear, and led the way up from the riverbank.

  “I hear voices,” said Mackenzie.

  “I’m not a licensed psychologist, but that doesn’t sound healthy,” Emilio maintained a stern face. “Maybe you should see someone.”

  She punched his arm. “I’m being serious!”

  He choked back a smile and listened carefully. In the distance, he also heard the muffled sounds of people talking. “They’re coming from the right. We’ll proceed quietly through the woods to the left.”

  Mackenzie nodded, walking softly behin
d him. The sound of the people died out, and they emerged from the thick brush at some railroad tracks. Beyond the tracks was another row of trees. “It looks like a road behind this line of shrubs. Come on.” Emilio led the way.

  Once upon the open roadway, Mackenzie pointed to a collapsed concrete structure protruding from a built-up mound of earth. “What is that?”

  “It was probably a flood gate. The area behind it is likely a low-lying area, prone to flooding. But the road through it heads east, so that’s where we’re going.”

  The two of them proceeded to the intersection and through the ruins of the old flood gate. The country road slithered like a snake through the hills. Mackenzie said, “It’s not exactly due east, is it?”

  “This isn’t Florida or Kansas. They build roads through the path of least resistance. In Kentucky, that usually means around this hill then behind that one.” Emilio checked the dim glimmer of sunlight masked behind the gloom above. “But we’re still heading in a generally eastern direction.”

  “In other words, we’ll be lost by nightfall.” She sighed.

  Emilio nodded. “Yeah, if all goes well.”

  While the sun never actually came up, it did somehow manage to go down each evening. The ghostly twilight that illuminated the day hours never fully manifested into a proper morning. Yet the darkness that fell like a sinking ship never failed to blanket the earth like the suffocating lid of a winepress being screwed down by a force of absolute oppression.

  After five miles of walking, Emilio looked up the road into the fading phosphorescence giving way to the heavy night. “I think that’s about it for today.” He looked across the field on the side of the road. An old barn looked as if it could have toppled over prior to the earthquake just as easily as after the great shaking event. “That metal roof is up off the ground far enough to provide us some type of shelter for the evening.”

  “Us, and some snakes, rats, possums, maybe a raccoon family who happens to be passing through this part of the country…”

  “I’ve still got the flashlight. We’ll inspect the crawl space before we get settled in for the night.”

  The corners of her mouth turned down, but she walked beside him through the field to the fallen barn.

  Emilio shined the beam of the flashlight under a section of roof propped up by the crumpled wall. The area was about four feet high and roughly four feet wide. The space ran the length of the barn but became precipitously lower toward the opposite end. “See, this isn’t so bad. Kind of cozy.”

  Mackenzie opened the garbage bag and took out the blanket she’d brought from the semi-truck. “Yeah, it’s going to be just like building a tent with the couch cushions as a kid.”

  ***

  Early on Wednesday, Emilio was awakened by the sharp chill of the morning air. Still mostly asleep, he smiled at the warmth from Nicole’s body as he pressed his backside against hers. But it wasn’t Nicole, as he soon realized upon coming fully awake. He edged away from Mackenzie, hoping she’d not noticed. He felt ashamed over the confusion, guilty for having forgotten that his beautiful wife no longer belonged to this cursed world.

  The sorrow and loneliness quickly washed over the shame, drowned it out, as smashing one’s finger with a hammer might detract from the anguish of a headache.

  Indeed, Mackenzie had not noticed. Still fast asleep, she rolled toward Emilio, attempting to snuggle into the warmth of his body. He quietly got out from under the blanket. He inched out of the narrow crawlspace they’d used for a shelter. The weak glow of daybreak gave just enough light for him to see his breath in the cold. He’d slept little the night before. Regular bombardments from Heaven caused loud booms throughout the dark hours. Tired and dejected, he couldn’t shake the uneasiness of having been so wrong about the rapture. Neither could he dismiss the self-recrimination of allowing himself to become separated from Nicole. He thought about the lost companionship of his wife.

  Emilio considered how he and Mackenzie had become a team with a common goal of surviving the trip back to the cave. But he shook his head in disgust. He would not allow himself to get close to her. It would be an affront to Nicole’s memory.

  He looked at the shelter. “Maybe I should just leave right now, while she’s still asleep.” He could just make out the edge of the road across the field in the lusterless glow of morning. But he considered what that would mean for Mackenzie, and for himself. “Too many times when we’ll have to sleep in shifts. We need each other to get back. But once we’re back at the cave, I’ll pack up some gear and head off on my own.”

  Minutes later, Mackenzie came crawling out from beneath the metal roof. “Good morning, did you get any sleep?”

  “Not much. Pack up your stuff. We need to get moving.”

  “Wow. Okay. Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the toppled barn.”

  “And I don’t need any of your snarky comments. So, you can just keep them to yourself.”

  “Alright then.” She retrieved the blanket, folded it, and stowed it back inside the trash bag. She ate one of the jelly rolls while the two of them walked back to the road. She offered him the bag which still had two more hotdog buns inside. “Are you hungry?”

  He took the bag but did not reply, not even so much as a thank you. The cold broken pavement was made even more hostile over the next several miles by the awkward silence between the two travelers.

  Emilio felt a spark of relief when he saw the first sign for I-65. “We’re on the right track! The interstate is just ahead.”

  Mackenzie said nothing.

  He’d almost forgotten about his unspoken pledge to give her the cold shoulder. Before, they’d shared these small victories. At this time, however, they were merely two people on the same road, both completely alone.

  “We’re moving through a town. Keep your guard up, and make sure you can get to your gun in a hurry if trouble arises.” He’d speak only when it was absolutely necessary.

  She didn’t give an audible response but lifted her jacket to reveal the butt of her pistol and looked in both directions.

  They navigated around the collapsed on-ramp and climbed up the embankment to the interstate. No sooner had they stepped over the guardrail and onto the shoulder than Emilio realized the interstate was a dead end. “Bad news. We’ve got another river to cross.” He walked to the edge where the concrete had given way. He looked up and down the Salt River which, thankfully, was not nearly as wide as the Ohio. Emilio led the way back down the embankment and toward the remains of the small town.

  Mackenzie’s tone was all business, as if trying to match Emilio’s coldness. “Are you sure we should be going in the direction of the town? I saw quite a few people when we passed through. And what’s more, they saw us.”

  “We’ll have a better chance of finding a way across. The other direction is all rural. We could wander for days without finding a way over.”

  The small town was Shepherdsville, a small country outpost beyond the suburbs of Louisville. It didn’t take Emilio long to figure out that this was good-‘ol-boy territory. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it did mean these folks were much more likely to be armed than others around the nation. And unfortunately, those with the highest moral standards had recently been evacuated by their Messiah.

  Emilio kept his jaw tight, avoiding eye contact with the people they encountered, but ready to engage in the event of a conflict. He noticed a group of about four people: three men and a woman. They all carried long guns, and they started walking toward Emilio and Mackenzie.

  “I think we’ve got trouble,” said Mackenzie.

  “I saw them. One of them was wearing a law enforcement shirt. I’m hoping they’re just looking to protect what’s theirs, checking out anyone they don’t recognize, that sort of thing.”

  They reached the railroad tracks. “Come on, we’ll follow the tracks. They should lead to the river.”

  “And to a bridge that’s out. If we’ve got a band of vigilantes who shoot f
irst and ask questions later, a dead-end could be an inconvenient thing right now.”

  Emilio knew she was right. “If we get into a pinch, we can head into the woods.”

  “So can they.”

  “If they do, we’ll ambush them, pick them off one by one.” Emilio picked up the pace once they hit the tracks. They jogged for about 200 yards then came to the old truss bridge that had fallen into the river.

  Emilio turned around to see if they were being followed. “I don’t think they came after us.”

  Mackenzie looked down. “That fallen tree reaches all the way to the top of the trusses which are sticking up out of the water. Maybe we could shimmy across that tree, then climb up on the truss.”

  Emilio examined the layout of the suggested route. He turned to look behind them once more. “Yeah, given our current circumstances, I’d say that’s our best shot.”

  The two of them worked their way down from the tracks. Emilio tied his garbage bag onto his belt and took the lead going across the tree. He had to search for branches that were strong enough to either hold or walk on as he negotiated a path through the horizontal limbs. It was the first time he was glad to see a tree with no foliage. Trying to pick his way through the leaves would have made this extremely difficult task nearly impossible.

  Mackenzie followed him at a distance which kept from placing too much stress on any single branch. Finally, Emilio reached the steel truss protruding up out of the water. He had to use all of his strength to propel himself up the narrow beam. Once the top of the truss leveled out, he turned to check Mackenzie’s progress. She managed to keep up with him. “Are you okay?” He instantly realized that he’d violated his oath to not show concern for her.

  “I’m fine, just keep moving.”

  He continued to traverse the rough iron across the river. He reached the end of the truss, to the section that descended to the track below. The next step would require him to turn himself around on the beam, so he could slide down feet first. He slowly lowered his legs over the edge, trying to maintain the center of his mass over the truss. His knuckles white; he held tightly to the cold metal. Bracing himself with all of his might, he swung his leg back up onto the top of the truss, then began lowering himself back down.