by Wilson, Cal
Bill answered, “Yeah, they chopped his head off. Right out in front of the roadblock out here.”
Kathy turned to Bill. “No need to provide that much detail, Bill.”
The three men shuddered. “No, we heard all about it. That was horrible,” one of the younger men said. “Something about taking the Mark on your forehead.”
“We’re all supposed to take the Mark,” Kathy answered. “It’s a new law.”
Elder Jacob looked at the man to his left. “Looks like those guys all have the Mark on their foreheads. Look at that one.” He pointed.
“Yeah, I see it.”
The other younger man who held the shotgun put his hand in front of his mouth. “Not used to being around dead bodies.” He looked at one of the dead men on the ground. “Yeah, I can see the Mark on that guy’s forehead. A little, gray bar code or something.”
The other younger man began, “Kirk has a couple of friends in our group.” He paused. “Well, he ‘had’ friends in our group.”
“We buried his body a few hours ago,” Kathy said. “Just last night. Next thing you know, this helicopter shows up at our camp and starts shooting at us.”
The three men stood a few feet away from the front of the helicopter. “Hey, I think I know that guy,” Elder Jacob said as he looked at the dead helicopter pilot. The younger man who had thrown up joined the other two in front of the helicopter.
“Yes, I think I know him,” Jacob said, tilting his head to the right as he studied the pilot. The other two men looked at the pilot and leaned their heads to the right as well.
“I figure these guys forced the pilot here to fly this thing,” Wallace ventured. “They are definitely not friends or anything. Look,” Wallace lifted the pilot’s head up so that the others could see the pilot’s face and forehead. The pilot’s eyes were slightly open, looking down. “The pilot doesn’t have the Mark on his forehead.”
“Yeah, you may be right,” Jacob said as he looked at Wallace. He held out his hand to shake Wallace’s hand. “Good to see you again. I’m sorry, what was your name again?”
“Wallace. Hi. Good to see you again.” Wallace appeared to quickly wipe his right hand on his pants, then reached out his hand and shook hands with Elder Jacob. “My name is Wallace, and my friends here are Bill and Kathy.” Bill and Kathy stayed seated and waved at the others.
“Meet Alex and Caleb,” Wallace shook hands with Alex, the one with the shotgun, and Caleb. The others waved at each other.
Elder Jacob looked back at the pilot. “Yes, I think the pilot had a crop-dusting business. He had several planes and he bought this helicopter at some Army surplus auction. He had a lot of fun with it. I don’t think he ever thought it would be used to try and kill anyone. That’s too bad. Tragic.”
“I thought he looked familiar,” Alex said, looking back at the pilot. “I think my family hired him to crop-dust our soy bean field a couple years ago.”
“Hmm,” Caleb looked at the pilot. “Isn’t he the one who took in a couple of grand-daughters?” Caleb looked at Elder Jacob.
“Yes, I think you’re right,” Elder Jacob spoke up. “His daughter died from a drug overdose, so he took in his grand-daughters. Five and seven-year-old girls. He was a good man.”
Wallace approached the pilot and reached in to unbuckle the body. He then pulled the pilot’s body out, and laid it on the ground outside the front of the helicopter, in front of the three men. Both Alex and Caleb avoided looking at the pilot’s body.
*****
Alex turned away from looking at the pilot’s body. His attention was suddenly drawn to the south. A column of smoke filled the southern sky. He started to exclaim, “Holy …!”
Elder Jacob looked at Caleb, “Hey, watch your lang –“ Elder Jacob stopped his comment as he also saw the smoke in the south. A huge black smoke cloud filled the southern sky. Despite being thirty miles away, it blacked out so much of the sky that the morning was not as bright as it would otherwise be.
“Oh no. Oh no. Look at that.”
Everyone else there looked to the south. Kathy and Bill stood up, their mouths wide open. “Oh no,” Bill said, sounding like he was trying to talk himself out of what he was seeing.
“Oh no, look at that,” Wallace said.
“Could that be a forest fire or something?” Caleb asked.
“No way,” Wallace insisted. “It’s not dry enough for a forest fire here. It just rained last week. No, that’s coming from town. And that’s not a house or two on fire. That’s half the town on fire.”
Kathy and Bill looked at each other, then back to the south. “I can’t believe this,” Kathy said. “That looks like the whole town is on fire, not just part of it. That’s a lot of people getting killed right now. Lots of people we knew.”
“I can’t believe this. Have you guys in your camp heard anything about what is going on out there?” Wallace asked Elder Jacob.
“No, not really. Nothing but what you guys might already know. Some talk of Sharia being put in place. That kind of thing. We haven’t heard much lately because the electrical grid has been really spotty lately. You know, with all the machine gun attacks on electrical substations.”
“Oh yeah, ‘Metcalfing.’” Wallace agreed. “It takes its toll. The poor-man’s EMP attack.”
“Now this,” Elder Jacob gestured to the south.
“Yeah, it looks like whoever it is is killing off everyone in the town,” Wallace asserted. “Everyone.”
“There have to be thousands dead right now,” Bill estimated. “Getting killed or already dead. I never thought I would see anything like this.”
“Bill, come in,” Jesse could be heard on the walkie-talkie in Bill’s pocket.
Bill pulled out the walkie-talkie, but with his attention still fixed on the huge smoke column in the southern sky. “Yes, Jesse, this is Bill.”
“What happened with the helicopter? Any news?”
“Yes, it crashed on the road out here and all five occupants are now dead. The pilot may have been forced by the others to fly this thing. We got Kirk’s wallet.”
“You’ll have to repeat that. My hearing is pretty bad right now.”
Bill spoke louder and slower into the walkie-talkie. “I said that all five men in the helicopter are dead. One of them had Kirk’s wallet.”
“Did you say that one of the guys in that chopper had Kirk’s wallet? Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Wow, good work! I never thought we would be killing people but, yeah, they attacked us. So, yeah. I guess stuff like this happens. We have maybe one person injured back here, but Mike looks OK.”
“Jesse, I have some bad news.”
“What, is everyone OK? How’re Kathy and Wallace?”
“They’re fine, but … look to the south.”
“What are you …” The walkie-talkie went silent.
“Jesse, I know there are some hills between you and the view we have here, but …”
Jesse came back on the walkie-talkie, and this time was somber. “No. It doesn’t matter. Oh my gosh. I can’t believe this.” Jesse paused but left the microphone button pushed. “All those people. That’s got to be the town right there. That’s the whole town, up in flames. It can’t be anything else. All those people…”
Jesse could be heard talking away from the walkie-talkie. “Mary, look at that.” A gasp could be heard. Frantic talking could be heard nearby Jesse. He finally let up the microphone button, so there was silence from his end.
“Listen, Jesse,” Bill resumed talking from his end. “We’re done here. We have a bunch of guns, knives, ammo, wallets, jewelry and stuff, and we’ll be bringing it all back to you.”
“You do that.” Jesse kept the microphone pressed again. Expressions of shock and commotion could be heard among many people at Jesse’s end. “Yes, come on back.” Jesse then sounded like he was praying. “Lord, come quickly.” Jesse then asked someone on his end, “Who’s turn is it to go to the ob
servation post?” He went silent again.
Wallace announced to the three men standing nearby, “OK, I think we’ll be heading back.”
“What about these bodies?” Elder Jacob asked. “And this wrecked helicopter?”
“We can toss the bodies over the side,” Wallace suggested.
“Wait,” Caleb said. “Why don’t we bury the pilot’s body? Looks like he wasn’t a part of this.”
“Yeah,” Elder Jacob nodded. Elder Jacob grabbed the shirt collar of the dead pilot and dragged him further up the road a little. He looked back at Wallace. “Can we toss the helicopter over the side too?”
“Why? It might make a second road block to help protect your camp.”
“Well, we still want to use the road someday. When things settle down a little.”
Wallace and Kathy looked at each other. Wallace looked back at Elder Jacob. “You mean, you think things will get back to normal?”
“Yeah, someday. Things will blow over and get back to normal. You’ll see.”
“You know, well,” Wallace started, trying to be diplomatic, “I just don’t see that happening.” He looked to the smoke in the southern sky again, then back to Elder Jacob. “I don’t think things will ever get back to normal. We’re in the Last Days here. There’s no turning back.”
“I don’t agree. No offense, but you evangelicals tend to jump to conclusions. You’ll see. This will all blow over, the lights will come back on and things will get back to normal.”
“Well OK, I can toss these bodies over, but I’m not sure about the helicopter here.” Wallace tossed one of the bodies over the cliff.
Wallace walked over to another dead body. “Hey this guy had some nice boots.” Wallace took the boots off of the body. “And cargo pants. And a nice 5.11 shirt.” Wallace pulled the pants and shirt off of the dead body, leaving the man in boxer shorts and a t-shirt.
“That’s really sick,” Alex said.
“Hey, we can still use this stuff,” Wallace answered, as he put the clothing and boots into the pile and threw the second body over the cliff.
“It’s not like we can go online and order some more boots and cargo pants,” Kathy said.
“Oh, so I guess you’re feeling better now?” Wallace asked Kathy, as he approached the third body. “Some of the shock worn off?”
“A little.” Kathy looked to the south. “I still can’t believe what’s going on in town. A lot of my old friends are probably getting killed right now.”
Wallace picked up the third body.
“Won’t that cause disease or something?” Alex asked. “Just to have dead bodies out there, rotting?”
Wallace turned around to face Alex, who looked disgusted and turned away. “Not really,” Wallace said. “Unless there is a water source down there, and I know there isn’t.” He then tossed the third body over the cliff.
“So long as we stay away from the bodies,” Elder Jacob agreed.
“It’ll be OK,” Wallace said as he dragged the fourth body and pushed it over the side.
“Hey, can you guys help us with the chopper over here?” Wallace looked at the three men near the front of the helicopter. “You seriously want it out of the way, right? Off the road?”
“Yeah,” Elder Jacob answered as the three of them approached the bottom of the helicopter and started pushing on the landing skid. “These things are kind of top-heavy,” Elder Jacob pointed out as he pushed. “That’ll help.”
“Here, let me help,” Wallace stood next to Elder Jacob and pushed on the landing skid. Bill and Kathy stood up and joined the pushing of the helicopter. First, the tail section rotated over the cliff, and then everyone moved to push the front of the helicopter. Eventually the helicopter fell over the cliff, landing with a crash on some rocks below.
“Thanks guys,” Elder Jacob said to everyone as he stepped back, dusting his hands. “I think we’ll be going back now. We’ll come back for the pilot’s body later.” Elder Jacob waved at Wallace, Bill and Kathy, then turned around and started walking back up the road to the Mormon camp. The other two men waved and followed Elder Jacob back to their camp.
*****
“Guys, let’s get this stuff together and go back to Jesse.” Wallace bundled all the rifles, pistols, knives, magazines, cigarettes, wallets, clothing, and his own rifle in one of the shirts taken from the men in the helicopter, and slung it over his shoulder and looked at Bill and Kathy. “Let’s go.”
The three started walking up the road.
“Wallace, I gotta ask you,” Kathy asked, as she caught up to Wallace. “Have you ever been in the military or something? I mean, how did you know to do all this? We were in combat here.”
“Nope, I’ve never served. I’m totally arm-chair.” Wallace looked back at Bill as Bill began to follow. “It’s kind of a long story, but I can shorten it. A good friend of mine in high school joined the Army, became a Ranger. He did his time, took his honorable discharge, and then he saw the kind of money that private military contractors were offering. So he signed up with a contractor.”
“You mean like for Blackwater or something?” Bill asked.
“Not that contractor. Another one. There are many private military contractors out there, you know.”
“OK, so your friend got hired with a contractor, helping out the military. That’s what they do, right?”
“Right. Meanwhile I was in college football, a defensive lineman, getting bored. So my friend talked me into joining too. He really took me in under his wing.” Wallace paused. “I knew I liked to shoot guns, and I was kinda dumb. I guess I didn’t know any better. It seemed fun, and the pay was great.”
“So you signed up,” Bill pressed Wallace.
“Yeah. At first I was the type of guy who said, ‘hey guys, I’ll be right behind you.’ Then I got a little more involved, putting myself in the parts of the group that got shot at and returned fire, that kind of thing. Pulling triggers. For an action-junkie like me it was kind of fun. Then I got a reputation of being kind of crazy, if you can believe that.”
“No kidding,” Bill said, in mock surprise.
Wallace looked at Bill and smiled. “So that’s it. No military, just private military contacting work. It was a great job, but you never settle down and do a job like that. After a few years and some really close calls I figured I should go home and try doing something normal for a while before I get myself killed.”
“Oh, so you put up your gun for good?” Bill asked.
“Well, I still hunt. But yeah, I’m out of the private contracting business. I build homes now.”
The three of them walked together in silence for a while. When they came to the opening of the road on the left, Wallace stopped and looked to smoke rising above town in the south. “There it is, folks. Proof that we didn’t jump the gun in bugging out. I don’t care what the Mormons say.”
“What do they know?” Bill grunted.
“Mormons,” Wallace started. “Excellent preppers but distorted theology. And that’s too bad. Pretty good neighbors though. And friendly. I’ll give ‘em that.”
“I’ve never met them,” Bill said. “Here we have been living nearby for over a month and this is the first I have seen them.”
“Yeah,” Kathy agreed. “I knew they were Mormons the second they walked up. Just by what clothes they wore.”
“It’s those white, short-sleeved button-down shirts,” Wallace smiled. “I think Mormon boys come out of the womb dressed in shirts like that.” Bill and Kathy smiled.
Bill looked south. “Never thought I would see a whole town on fire like that,” Bill said, holding his hand up to shield his eyes from the sun, which was now in the southeast. “Such a huge smoke column and the town is over 30 miles away. Look at that -- it takes up such a huge part of the sky!”
“Hmm,” Kathy nodded. “Lots of people dying there.”
“Probably,” Wallace said.
The three turned into the road and started walking into the retr
eat property past the observation post.
“Wallace, I have another question,” Bill started. “How is it that you wear camo everywhere? I remember, back when church was still open, you were the one who was in camo, sitting way in the back of church. What was that all about?”
“Well, that was a function of my relationship with Jesus Christ.”
“What do you mean by that?” Kathy asked, confused.
“Well, the Bible is the word of God, I know that. And every single part of the Bible is put there for a reason. Not just for conversation or something. I mean really; on purpose. And several parts of the Bible are pretty explicit about what happens at the end. The End Times. It’s downright scary.”