Apocalypse Coming

by William Dunaway

  All of this is happening to this country because we’re all guilty of turning our back on God, whether it’s just a little bit or completely like so many have done. This was all prophesied over 2000 years ago. I know we haven’t talked that much about God, but I know you believe in him, and you trust him.”

  She kind of pressed her lips together, nodded her head yes, and said with a sweet look, “I do. I really do,” She cleared her throat, “I want you to know, you did the right thing today. I know it’s wrong to think this way, but I wish they were all dead, but you wouldn’t be you if you would’ve just shot them. That’s one of the things that made me fall for you. You truly believe in honor.

  You, Mike and all your army buddies are a special breed. It’s a shame people started turning from that way of thinking. That’s probably why the world is in the shape it is.”

  I chuckled out of a little embarrassment, “Thank you. There’s a lot of people from my past and present that wouldn’t speak nearly as kindly about me.”

  She smiled, “Like Lebowski?”

  “Yeah, I’m sure Lebowski, but there has been quite a few other than him.

  After a short pause, I wanted to tell Carmen how I felt about her. As I tried to form the words, I started tearing up a little, “Carmen, I don’t know how to tell you what you mean to me. You’re….”

  She then held her hand up to my lips to hush me, “You don’t have to tell me how you feel about me. I know you love me and you know I love you. That’s all that needs to be said.”

  She started straightening herself up, then gave me a hug and a fast kiss on the lips and said in a very positive upbeat voice, “You be careful tomorrow,” and she walked into the house and straight to her bedroom.

  When I walked into the house, Kim was looking at me through the opening between the kitchen and the back room. She gave me a sweet smile, “Are you ready to go to bed?”

  We said our goodnights to everyone and went into the bedroom.

  “Was it pretty hard with Carmen?”

  “Hmmm, it wasn’t easy.”

  “You’ve got a feeling something is going to happen tomorrow, don’t you?”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “The way you walked around to each individual. All the guys seemed to sense it.”

  I hesitated to say anything, but Kim knew me well.

  “Well, it’s kind of a tradition from our Army days…. But yeah, I think it’s all going down sometime early tomorrow.”

  Kim gave me a concerned look as she knew my senses were pretty accurate sometimes.

  Kim then walked up to me and smiled, “I’m very proud of you.”

  “For what?”

  “For being you and bringing everything together.”

  “Everyone gets the credit for that,” I paused, “God has blessed us with a good bunch of people.”

  She smiled again, “Yes, he has.”

  She then kissed me, and we started making love. I guess being older, Kim and I had gotten into the routine of quick sex or fooling around or whatever you want to call it. This night was different, though. We truly made love.

  Five hours later:

  I woke up and looked at my watch with the flashlight I kept next to the bed. 4:45 a.m.

  “Damn, couldn’t I sleep in a little, at least today?” I thought. My shoulder was saying “NO!” though. I must have really slept on it wrong as the pain was intense. This was a two Oxy morning.

  After dressing and my morning rituals, I walked out to get coffee. I knew whoever took over the night shift had to have it made. I left the generator running this time just in case something happened in the middle of the night. I didn’t want to have to run out and start the generator if it did.

  Tag was working the second half of the night shift and heard me getting up, so he had a cup waiting for me.

  “Thank you, sir, everything go smoothly I assume?”

  “Absolutely nothing happened. Now that we have their truck, we didn’t have to listen to them driving around at a distance and the dogs didn’t bark once last night.”

  Red came walking in from patrolling the outside area.

  “Good Morning.”

  “I see you’re wide awake and in a good mood.”

  “It’s a beautiful night out here, 65 degrees and the stars are just beaming.”

  “Well, let’s hope it stays that way.”

  Tag looked at me and cocked his head, meaning “Don’t we all wish.”

  I could tell, these guys could feel it in their guts as well as I could. Sometime today, it was going down.

  Just about then, Mike walked in and grunted at the three of us.

  Tag laughed, “There’s a happy camper.”

  “I couldn’t sleep last night. I kept waking up about every 45 minutes.” He said with a growl.

  I grabbed my M-4 and radio and said, “Why don’t you guys all take a nap. I’m going to wake everybody up at 6:00.”

  Red said, “A nap would just make me tired. I’m good.”

  “It won’t do any good, I won’t sleep,” Mike remarked.

  Tag said, “Well since you’re obviously going out to look around, I’ll doze here on the couch.” Tag could sleep anywhere and with any amount of noise.

  I walked out and saw that Red wasn’t lying. It was a beautiful night.

  Cash and Duke came running up to me, and I bent down and rubbed both of their heads. I realized that the dogs had been invaluable in ways we took for granted. I knew there were times that their barking had kept someone up to no-good, away.

  As I walked the perimeter, I couldn’t help but think how it could go from such a pretty night to the hell most of us knew was coming. Then I remembered just the day before, the great party we had and then Orville showed up. Today would be a great day, except I knew Orville was going to show up again, but this time, it was going to be for keeps.

  I walked to the fence and could see the horses grazing about 100 yards out.

  I looked up at the stars and started to pray.

  “Father, I come before you, to acknowledge your creation and thank you for all your blessings. My family, this farm, the wildlife, and the foresight to prepare for bad times. I also want to thank you for making us American’s with the freedom and rights you gave us, that was just an everyday part of our lives. There is so much we take for granted, but without you, we wouldn’t have any of it. Truly all good things do come from you.

  I ask that you’ll be with the less fortunate. Those suffering and those that have lost a loved one. I ask that you’ll be with the innocent, the children, the elderly, and the sick.

  Father, we pray that Christ’s return will be just as soon as possible. We need your kingdom. We need your perfect love.

  Also, we ask that someday, we’ll all learn to love one another as Christ and you love us. Help us to forgive one another and quit judging and trying to control one another. I ask for your forgiveness of man, our country, my family and especially myself. There is no doubt that we all deserve death, but due to your plan and the sacrifice of your son, Jesus Christ, we’ll be forgiven when we truly repent.

  Now, Father, I ask for protection for everyone that’s here. Please watch over them. I know some of us may die today. If that’s your will, so be it. I know some may be wounded. I ask that you’ll heal them. Father, I’m responsible for this group and anything bad that happens to them. Please inspire me to make the right decisions. Please, give me wisdom.

  Now, if we must fight against the evil that’s probably coming to us today, please help us all to be the best we can be. Help our bodies to react the way they need to.

  Father, I know that war is the creation of man and if man had just obeyed and acknowledged you, this earth would be paradise. But all this is happening because we followed the path of Satan and thought about ourselves and what we thought we needed and wanted. We turned against you, and all this is the result. Forgive us, Father.

  Now we do love you and pray that we do honor you and w
e ask all this in the name of your son, our Savior, our King and Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.”

  As I was walking back to the house, I saw Mo coming out of his bus. He was obviously dressed for a possible battle as he had on an assault vest and had his rifle slung over his shoulder.

  “Oh, you have a positive attitude this early in the morning, I see.”

  “I wish I could have a positive attitude about today, but you know that would be wishful thinking.”

  “Yeah, I know. How are Angela and Lulu handling it all?”

  “Lulu is smarter than everyone gives someone her age credit for. She really got to me last night, when I was tucking her in, she reached up and gave me a hug and then out of the blue, said, “I’m not worried, daddy. I know you’ll be fine.” Angela, on the other hand, is being Angela. Know what I mean?”

  I nodded, “Yes,” then after a pause, “I’d like to talk to both of them before breakfast if you don’t mind.

  He paused for a moment as though he was thinking, “Oh, I know what you’re doing. The same thing you always did before we went into some hairy battle.”

  I looked at him, amazed at how much he remembered from our younger days and said with a grin, “You still know me well.

  Mo, I just wanted to let you know how glad I am that you’re here. I still think it was a Godsend. You’re a true friend and brother.”

  “You know how I feel about you and all the guys. How I feel about everyone here now,” but trying to lighten up the situation, he continued with a laugh, “But stop talking this way, you sound like you’re a softy.”

  I laughed, and we walked inside together.

  When we walked inside, Kim, Carmen, Mia, and Brandy were already in the kitchen making breakfast.

  “Why are you guys up so early?”

  “Everybody else is up,” Kim responded. Just then, Paul walked in from the living room.

  “When did you come in?”

  “While you were saying your prayers. It looked like you were pretty intense, so I didn’t want to disturb you.”

  I shook my head quickly a couple of times, “I’m glad you weren’t a bad guy. I didn’t even notice.”

  “I thought the same thing.”

  Soon Angela and Lulu came through the door. As soon as I saw them, I asked, “Angela, can I talk to you?”

  Angela and I have never “clicked” since her arrival, so she kind of got a worried look on her face but agreed.

  We stepped outside, “Angela, I know we haven’t seen eye-to-eye half the time, but I just wanted you to know that, even with our differences, I respect you. You’ve done a hell of a job turning Lulu into a very sweet and loving girl, and you’re a hard worker. Without you, we couldn’t have gotten as far as we have the last couple of weeks. I also want you to know, that I love Mo as a brother and to me, that makes you my sister. We may bump heads sometimes like brothers and sisters do, but to me you’re invaluable.”

  She had a stunned look on her face and just stared at me for a moment. Then she seemed to come out of it, “Vince, the only reason we’ve bumped heads is that we have different political views and I don’t like guns. But I do trust you. Like I said the other day if it wasn’t for you and Kim, no telling where we’d be right now. Heck, we could be dead. I came from a very bad part of the city so out of habit, I know I display that type of attitude, and for that I’m sorry. Oh, and I can tell you that Mo thinks the same of you and Lulu just loves you to pieces. I still don’t like carrying the gun, but I’m getting better.”

  “Speaking of Lulu, do you mind if I talk to her also?”

  She got a curious look on her face, and I could tell she started to ask why but said, “Yes, go ahead.”

  We walked back in, and Lulu was doing her best to help in the kitchen. I grabbed a couple of carrots from the fridge and said, “Lulu, do you want to help me give the horses some carrots?”

  “Yes!” she said excitedly, and she ran over to me and stuck out her hands for the carrots.

  When we got to the fence, the horses saw us and came running over. I broke up the carrots and asked, “Now you remember how to keep your hands flat while you’re feeding them, right?”

  “Yes. I don’t want them to think my finger is a carrot,” as she giggled.

  After she had fed them, I said, “Lulu, you know we might have some bad people coming here today, don’t you?”

  She looked at me, “You mean those bad guys from yesterday, right?”

  “Right! But this time, they might be bringing a lot of their friends with them. We’re going to try and stop them before they get anywhere close to the house, but you may hear a lot of shooting. You know that, don’t you?”

  She frowned, “It’s going to be dangerous, isn’t it?”

  I was stunned by that question from her.

  “You know your daddy told me just a few minutes ago, how smart you are. You know what? He was right.”

  She got a big smile on her face, “I try to read as often as I can and I also listen a lot. I know mommy doesn’t want me to hear some of the stuff, but I want to know what’s going on.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh, “That will be our little secret then, ok?”

  She nodded her head yes.

  “Now, I need you to do me a favor. If we all have to take off today to go stop the bad guys, I want you to promise me that you’ll stay right next to your mother ok, and if you see a bunch of those bad guys around the house, I want you and your mom to hide really well. Do you promise to do all that?”

  “I promise.”

  I smiled and asked, “Are you hungry?” She nodded her head up and down fast, “Ok, I’ll race you to the kitchen.” She acted like she was ready to race, “Go.” I said, and we ran to the house.

  Kim and the ladies had fixed some very good breakfast sandwiches, and we had freshly picked cantaloupe from the garden. By the time we finished, it was 6:45.

  Mo and Paul had tower duty, so they grabbed another cup of coffee and headed that way.

  Carmen and Mia were about to go saddle the horses as they were scheduled to patrol the farm.

  I told them to hold up, and I handed Carmen my Glock 27, the .40 caliber carbine and two double magazine pouches that held two 10-round magazines each. When I handed her the Glock, she asked, “What’s this for?” I told her to give Kim the Glock 26, and I was going to give Kim the 9mm carbine as well. “That way, you’re both shooting the same ammunition for both your weapons. When I handed Kim the Glock 26, the carbine, and her magazine pouches, she asked, “What am I supposed to do with my Sig.”

  “I want to give that to Angela to use. She’ll be in most of the time, and the Sig may be the prettiest handgun we have, but it also has the lowest capacity magazine.”

  Kim grabbed her Sig and handed it, the spare mags, and the holster to Angela. Of course, Angela frowned when she took the Sig, but I cleared my throat very loudly and sternly said, “Wear it!”

  After playing musical chairs with the guns, Mike and I started double checking the duty schedule. Wit and Brandy were looking over the medical supplies and checking the EMT bag that they used.

  About 7:20, we got a call on the radio.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The wicked flee when no one is pursuing but the righteous are bold as a lion.

  August 14th

  “Base, this is Check One. We can hear what sounds like a large group of people yelling and it seems to be getting closer.”

  Mike said to everyone, “This is it,” he then keyed the radio and said 10-4. All units, this is base. This is a go on the west side. All active teams respond.”

  Check one, check two, Jake, Carmen and Mia all responded.

  “All units, report to your assigned areas.”

  While this was going on, I was putting on my assault vest. It didn’t have any ballistic protection, but it did carry eight M-4 magazines when you put two to a pouch, a holster for my Glock 22, four pouches for extra Glock magazines and an emergency trauma kit.

&
nbsp; I heard Wit start up his motorcycle and take off for Jake’s to pick up Blake. When they returned, Wit got off and grabbed the SAW. All the guys and Brandy headed to the jeep and climbed in back and onto the trailer. Kim ran out to the north tower, to keep an eye on Aker’s field, with a pair of binoculars that we kept at the tower.

  The communication call signs could’ve been a little more sophisticated, but for not taking the time to drill, the plan seemed to go down without too much of a hitch. Jake and his crew were watching for any movement through his woods. The East roadblock, which was now being covered by Jim Simpson and Ben was watching the intersection but especially the north road, which Orville and his bunch would’ve come down if they decided to split their forces or come that route.

  Brandy was along with the deployment team as a medic, and she was a really good shot with a rifle.

  As we were speeding up to the west intersection, Mike said, “What idiots! If the mob had been quiet, they probably could’ve been on the west roadblock long before we got there. That’s exactly why I argued to make the roadblocks closer to the house.”

  “Yep, that was stupid on their part for sure. The only thing I can think is Orville tried to get them all fired up, thinking it would make them more aggressive. Instead, it probably cost him, big time, Thank God,” I replied.

  About the time I finished my sentence, we were pulling up to the roadblock. Phillip and Harold Akers that both had their own M-4's were standing behind the cars, waiting for any sign of the crowd. When they saw us, they pointed at their house, where their dad Len was standing on the back side of the roof, watching the crowd approach.

  Mo, Mike, and Brandy ran into the barn and up to the loft, where they had already fixed their positions the night before. Mike had his .308 sniper rifle and his .308 AR. Mo had the M-16 and Brandy was next to where Wit’s position was going to be and had Mike’s .308 deer rifle.

  Red, Tag, Paul, and I spread out along the cars.

  Tag had Kim’s scoped M-4, Red was using the AR15, which we took from Orville’s son, and Paul was carrying the 30.30.

  Len Akers, who had a 30.06, came over the radio, “They’re about 100 yards beyond the crest of the road. You should see them within the minute.”