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

by Wilson, Cal

  “Yeah,” Kathy nodded. “I agree.”

  “Well, after I moved back to town and got saved and started going to church, I figured that if God told us what to expect in the End Times, and, in that passage in Matthew, Jesus told Christians to ‘just flee,’ then we were being told to take it all very seriously. Deadly seriously, in fact.”

  “That’s true,” Bill agreed.

  “You know, if you think about it, everything else Jesus said in the Bible seemed so, I don’t know, just different. Kind of cerebral, preaching. A parable about a wayward son, telling people that his yoke was easy, forgive your enemies, ‘let your light so shine,’ that kind of thing. Everything He said was kind of parental and reassuring. One Sunday school teacher of mine used the term “salvivic.” Then, when Jesus’ disciples asked Him about the End Times, He said ‘just flee to the mountains.’ It just sounded a little out of character. ‘Just flee to the mountains’ He said. That really stuck with me.”

  “I never thought about it that way.” Bill looked at Wallace with a new seriousness.

  “Then Jesus followed it up with ‘I have told you in advance.’ As far as I’m concerned,” Wallace continued, “any Christian who really takes the Bible seriously needs to wear camouflage all the time, stockpile a bunch of food, guns and ammo, and be ready to go at any time. If you aren’t really alarmed at what the Bible says about the End Times and what we can expect, then you aren’t taking the Bible seriously. All of it. Sure, I wear normal clothing to client meetings or whatever, but most of the time I would wear camo, just in case. Always ready to go. Jesus said that the End Times will come at a day and hour that neither He nor the angels knew. Only God knew.”

  “Yep, good point.” Bill nodded.

  “And then, just to top it all off, the final book of the Bible, Revelation, says that God gives a special blessing to anyone who reads that specific book of the Bible. And of course Revelation talks about how all sorts of horrible things will happen to end humanity. Just about all at the same time. I just couldn’t see being a real Christian and not being a prepper at the same time. One goes hand in hand with the other. In fact, we’re being told to be preppers.”

  “Like Noah and Joseph,” Bill suggested.

  “Yeah, that’s true.”

  The three of them walked further in silence for a few moments.

  “OK,” Bill sounded convinced. “One more thing. I think I figured out the reason why you always sat in the back of church all the time. The Bible says ‘the last shall be first, and the first last.’ So sitting in the back of church was your way of making sure that under the Bible you will actually be first. Am I right?” Bill had the look of someone who had just solved a complicated puzzle.

  “Well, no,” Wallace answered. “There was better legroom in the back of church. That’s all.”

  “Oh.” Bill and Kathy nodded and the three of them continued walking up the road towards the camp.

  *****

  The trio continued walking on the road to the camp, with Bill and Kathy on either side of Wallace, who carried the shirt full of all the items gotten from the helicopter. Wallace looked at Bill. “So Bill, what’s your history? What were you before this all started happening?”

  “I was a mechanical engineering major at the university, in my junior year.”

  “And you were in this retreat group?”

  “Yep, since before the church got shut down. I was in the Bible study group with Jesse and Mary. One day they invited me up here for target practice, which was a blast. I didn’t have too much experience with guns. Eventually they let me in on what was going on up here – that they were preparing for the end of the world.”

  Wallace put the shirt down and grabbed one of the M4 rifles and held it with his right hand. He picked up the shirt full of items and carried it over his other shoulder.

  “And your family? Your parents? What about them?”

  An expression of sadness and worry came across Bill’s face. “That is the first topic in my every prayer. I know my parents were part of a retreat group in the eastern part of the state, but I haven’t heard from them. I hope and pray that they’re OK.”

  Wallace looked back at Bill. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll be praying for your parents.”

  “Thanks Wallace.”

  The trio walked further in silence for a few minutes. Wallace aimed down the road with the M4 rifle. “These really are cool guns. I still can’t get over how those guys had some military-issued guns like these.”

  “So, Bill,” Kathy started, “what were you doing when you heard the song on the radio? The song repeating, as a signal to drop everything and come up here?”

  “Well, I had my petition for sabbatical ready to go. I am an engineer, you know. And when I heard the song on the radio playing over and over again, as we had discussed, I knew it was a signal to go to the retreat. I scanned some recent news, read parts of the Bible to confirm, and then tried to call my parents. The phone lines were all dead. So I dropped my letter in the mail and headed up here. I sent the letter just to cover my bases. If we were wrong, I wanted to be able to return to class and graduate with a decent GPA. In retrospect that was pretty unnecessary. My old campus is probably a killing field right about now.”

  “Yeah, I’ve wondered what things are like back there,” Kathy said. “I finally paid off my condo, and I was early. Then I had to leave it. It’s probably in flames right now, along with the rest of the town. Oh well, my money situation was on the up-swing, so easy come easy go.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” Bill smiled.

  “Hey, it sounds like you guys are both doing better now. The shock and nausea you both had after the shooting and seeing those bodies back there. Look like it has subsided a little. I heard two jokes, well, almost jokes, in the last few minutes. Not bad.”

  Kathy and Bill looked at each other. Kathy announced, “Well, I doubt I will sleep for a while, but having you in charge here made things a lot better.”

  “Yeah, Wallace,” Bill agreed. “Thanks for taking the lead in all this.”

  “Yeah, thanks,” Kathy agreed. “We couldn’t have done any of this without you. You probably saved a lot of lives today.”

  “My pleasure. You guys were great back there. Just beautiful! I was blessed to be hooked up with you two.”

  *****

  Just then a gunshot rang out from the forest to the left of the road. Bill screamed out “Ah!” and grabbed his right temple as blood flowed down onto his face, then he fell onto the dirt road.

  Wallace dropped the shirt he was carrying onto the ground and aimed the M4 towards the location of the gunshot. A middle-eastern man dressed in dark green was standing up, leaning against a tree about 50 feet away, holding a pistol. One of his legs dangled down in an unnatural angle, obviously broken.

  The sun reflected the man’s smiling face as he yelled out several words in Arabic. From the evil smile on his face it was apparent that he was thrilled that his shot had hit one of the three who were walking on the road. The sun reflected and illuminated the slight-gray bar code on the man’s forehead.

  The man shot his pistol a second time at Wallace, Bill and Kathy, but missed. Wallace pointed the M4 rifle and shot a quick burst of three bullets, all of which missed the man. Wallace then shot a second burst of three bullets and one bullet hit the man’s neck. The man then fell back onto the ground. Wallace ran towards the man.

  Kathy rushed to Bill’s side. Bill’s hand fell off of his head and exposed the gunshot on the side of his temple. His skull was barely visible and blood oozed out. Bill passed out. “Stay with me Bill,” Kathy pleaded. Bill opened his eyes and looked at Kathy and she pressed the wound with her hand to stop the bleeding. Bill’s eyes closed again as he passed out once more.

  Wallace stood directly over the man he had just shot. He shot another three bullets directly into the man’s face.

  “Kathy,” Bill managed to say, as his eyes opened and focused on her.


  Kathy reached into the pile of items that Wallace had dropped nearby, and she grabbed a green shirt, rolled it up and pressed it against Bill’s head. Bill passed out again. “Stay with me, Bill,” Kathy pleaded. “Don’t go.”

  Wallace yelled back to Kathy, “Press on the bleeding! You have to stop the bleeding!”

  “I am!” Kathy looked back at Bill. “Stay with us, Bill.” Some tears rolled down Kathy’s face.

  Bill opened his eyes again, and looked at Kathy. “Why?” he was able to say. “What’re you going to do? Kathy, I’m toast. Don’t bother.”

  “Don’t give up, Bill,” Kathy said. Bill passed out again.

  Wallace ran back to Kathy and Bill. “Alright, let’s leave the stuff here, except for one of these rifles, and get Bill to the camp. You guys have a nurse there, right?”

  “Yeah. Lois.”

  Wallace stuck his left arm through the rifle strap so that he could carry the rifle he had just shot. He then picked up Bill and held him in front with his two outstretched arms. “Try to keep the pressure on his head,” he told Kathy. “Head wounds bleed a lot. We need to stop the bleeding if we can.”

  “OK,” Kathy said as she pressed the rolled-up green shirt against Bill’s head.

  “Come on,” Wallace said as he managed to walk quickly on the road towards the camp.

  Wallace carried Bill and walked as fast as he could, while Kathy ran alongside and apply pressure to Bill’s head in hopes of stopping the bleeding.

  Wallace and Kathy followed the road around a small turn to the left and came into view of the main part of the camp.

  ****

  CHAPTER 20

  The camp was still a mess from the helicopter attack the night before. Several tents had been blown over, and everyone visible was either trying to set up a tent or repair something. Nerves were frayed.

  Some people were crying out loud or yelling at others. Only one person, Mike, had been shot by the people in the helicopter. But Mike had been shot in the back of his upper left arm, and the bullet had gone all the way through, so there was nothing for Lois to do but stitch the wound close and give Mike some antibiotics from the fish antibiotics that had been stored by Jesse and Mary.

  The first people Wallace, Kathy and Bill came across were Beth and one of her daughters. Beth was a tall, fair-skinned woman with short blond hair. She was comforting her teenage daughter, Keira, who was crying.

  Keira was taking their situation pretty hard. “I can’t stand it here,” she sobbed. Beth hugged Keira as she cried. “Every morning I wake up and can’t believe I’m still here,” she cried. “I don’t want to be here. Now we’re getting shot at! What’s that about? What did we do to deserve getting shot at?”

  “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.

  ****

  CHAPTER 21

  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 mo
re 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.