The Days of Noah, The Complete Box Set: A Novel of the End Times in America

by Mark Goodwin

  Elijah opened his door as Ken and Everett walked up the stairs. “Come in, come in. Welcome. Everett, this is your first trip to my home. Why don’t you put the meat in the sink and I’ll show you around.”

  “Thanks, but I’ve still got the two shoulders in my trunk. Do you mind if we grab those first?” Everett followed the man to the kitchen and placed the ham in the sink.

  “Please, go right ahead. Ken, when you’re finished bringing in the venison, bring Everett around to the smokehouse. I’ll meet the two of you there. I’ve got to keep a close eye on the fire.”

  Ken laid the other ham in the sink on top of the first. “Sure thing.”

  Everett and Ken brought in the two shoulders and then found Elijah by the smokehouse.

  Everett looked around at the clever layout of Elijah’s mountain hideaway. “I see that you built the chicken coop right up against the cabin. That’s smart. You only had to build three walls.”

  Elijah selected another log to go in the fire pot for the smokehouse. “The residual heat from the stove in the house helps keep them from freezing, too. I did the same thing with the rabbit hutch. Additionally, I can hear the chickens through the wall. They let me know if something is trying to get in the coop.”

  Everett pointed to the stove pipe coming out of the side of the barn, which was about twenty yards back from the house. “Is that another smokehouse?”

  “No, I keep a fire going in the barn for my workshop, and the goats. They like to get in there at night and sleep by the stove. The goats take care of me, so why not return the favor. Come on over to the greenhouse and let’s pick some herbs for your sausage.” Elijah led the two men to the other side of his small house.

  Everett was very impressed. “Wow, I guess being up against your house keeps the plants from freezing at night.”

  Elijah opened the door for Ken and Everett to go inside. “Good guess. The sun heats it up in the daytime, but without a heater, the plants would freeze at night, especially when the days are so short and the wind gets to blowing. Now let’s see what we’ve got. How about we make a batch with sage and cayenne pepper, and maybe another batch with rosemary, garlic, and leeks.”

  Everett’s mouth began to water. “Sounds fantastic. All of the sausage that you brought to the house for New Year’s was absolutely delectable.”

  Elijah selected the herbs and handed them to Ken to bring in the house. “We can put a little parsley in the batch with the leeks. It’s a bit more subtle and will balance out the pungent taste of the garlic and rosemary.”

  When he’d finished gathering the ingredients, Elijah led the way back to the house. “Any news on the grand reconstruction plans of our self-appointed world leader?”

  Ken handed the other herbs to Everett and dusted the remaining dirt off of the fresh garlic bulb. “All the power in the country has been cut except for military bases and Washington. I guess Luz wants to make sure the deconstruction is complete in America before he gets into reconstruction.”

  Elijah shrugged. “If you want to build a New World Order, you have to first clear away the rubble of the old world order.”

  Ken smirked. “Yeah. DC is being cordoned off from the rest of the world. Luz is building twenty-foot high concrete walls with guard towers every quarter mile along a perimeter on the DC border.”

  Elijah opened the back door and let Ken and Everett in. “Are they building the wall along the Potomac? Otherwise, it will be an unsecured border.”

  Ken laid the garlic on the counter. “No, but the river is going to be heavily guarded. He plans to run a twenty-foot-high fence with razor wire all the way around the outside of the 495 beltway. He’s got some pretty big plans for the entire area from what I hear. And outside of that fence is going to be a no man’s land. DC property owners were issued notices of eminent domain this morning. The Global Republic is taking possession of everything. Property owners inside the Capital Beltway will probably get a similar notice soon.”

  “Luz is just seizing the property?” Elijah took out a stone from the drawer and sharpened his knife.

  “No, the Global Republic will compensate property owners in SDRs, at a valuation that the new government deems to be fair.”

  Elijah picked up one of the shoulders from the sink and began to filet the meat off of the bone. “Yes, I’ve heard all about the fair market prices from my shortwave. The new currency is already up and running in Europe. People working for the Republic are being paid just enough to buy food for the day.”

  Ken nodded. “The people working on the projects in DC are getting a similar pay rate. A day’s wages are roughly ten SDRs, and a loaf of bread at the workers’ commissary costs five SDRs. Luz is blaming the prices on food shortages triggered by the attacks, of course.”

  Everett took the initiative to begin peeling the garlic. “I suppose people will put up with it because they’ll starve otherwise.”

  “And the American people, will they be compensated for the commandeering of their nation’s capital?” Elijah finished with the shoulder and dropped the bones into a large stock pot.

  Ken snorted. “There is no America and, therefore, no American people to compensate.”

  Elijah filled the stockpot with water. “Have you seen a new flag?”

  Ken shook his head. “DC is flying the UN flag above a red flag with that double-headed eagle that was on the front of the table at the treaty signing.”

  Elijah washed his hands and retrieved his meat grinder from a shelf under the kitchen counter. “Ah, yes. The throne of Satan.”

  Everett lowered his brow. “The what?”

  “Throne of Satan. The setup of the stage last Friday. It was a replica of the Altar of Pergamon. The huge monument was excavated in the late 1800s and reconstructed in Germany in the 1900s. It has been the anchor piece at the Museum of Pergamon in Berlin since 1930. It was of great interest to the Thule Society back then.”

  Everett’s heartbeat quickened. Jones had got him started on all of this secret society stuff, and now he was absolutely intrigued by it. “The Thule Society, who were they? And why did you call the altar the throne of Satan?”

  Elijah stuck a few pieces of the meat into the grinder. “Ken, turn this crank until the hopper is empty, then drop in a few more chunks.”

  Elijah waited to see that Ken had a proper pace for the grinder then turned his attention back to Everett. “I called it the Throne of Satan because that is what the Messiah called it. In Revelation two, Christ is dictating a letter to the church in Pergamon, and he states that is where Satan has his throne.”

  Everett thought for a moment. “But that doesn’t necessarily make the altar the Throne of Satan.”

  Elijah smiled but didn’t address Everett’s concern. Everett got the feeling that Elijah knew more but wasn’t going to tell him.

  Elijah wiped his hands on a towel. “The Thule Society was an occult society in the early thirties based in Munich. They saw themselves and, more specifically, the Aryan race, as the true descendants of Atlantis. It was out of their ideology that the Nazi party came to power. In fact, the Tribune in Zeppelin Field, Nuremberg, was modeled after the Pergamon Altar. It eerily resembles the stage from which Luz addressed the world on Friday.”

  Everett looked at Ken to see if he was buying it.

  Ken kept grinding. “Just without the swastikas.”

  Elijah put a finger in the air. “And the swastika, it was the official symbol of the Thule Society. The outer legs were curved, forming a circle, as opposed to the straight legs of the German swastika, which formed a square. Both have the same origin. The symbol can be found in Buddhism, Hinduism, and several ancient cultures and was said to be a symbol of good luck, but to the Thule Society and the Nazi party, it meant ‘unconquerable.’ ”

  Everett stared out the window as he muttered. “Sol Invictus.”

  Elijah put his hand to his ear. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

  Everett was trying to make the connection. “Somethin
g I heard the pope say on Christmas Eve. Sol Invictus, the Roman sun god. He said Christmas was the birthday of the Unconquered Sun. Is there any relation between the swastika and Sol Invictus?”

  Elijah seemed to appreciate the fact that Everett’s inquisitive mind was searching out a solution to the grand puzzle. “There is. All of these things speak of Satan’s desire to be worshiped as God. While Sol Invictus, The Pergamon Altar, the Thule Society, and even the stage from which Luz addressed the globe may span centuries, cultures, and continents, they all represent Satan and his age-old scheme to overthrow the Kingdom of Heaven. Those who worshiped at the Pergamon Altar persecuted the early Christian church. The Romans who worshiped Sol Invictus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD as well as persecuted and murdered the followers of Christ for nearly three centuries. When prominent members of the Thule Society came to power under the Nazi Party, they murdered six million Jews as well as Christians who didn’t toe the party line.”

  Elijah dropped his head as if he had been suddenly overtaken by a massive wave of despair. His voice became weak and sorrowful as he said, “But all of that, everything that has come before, it won’t be a drop in the bucket compared to the relentless persecution that is coming upon the earth under the Global Republic and leadership of Angelo Luz.”

  Everett didn’t really buy into the notion of a man running around with horns on his head and a red suit wielding a pitchfork. He’d always considered the devil to be a fairytale, on the same level as the Easter bunny. Even as he’d begun to consider the possibility of the existence of God, believing in Satan was quite another thing. Still, Elijah’s argument for this dark power was consistent with what he’d learned from Jones, a man that Everett had greatly admired. He noticed that Ken was slowing down and starting to form beads of sweat on his forehead. “Are you ready for a break? I can turn the crank for a while.”

  Ken nodded and stepped back so Everett could operate the meat grinder. “What about that creepy looking granite altar? That thing has got to be satanic.”

  Elijah filled the hopper with meat for Everett then turned to Ken. “Did you notice how it looked dirty in between the jewels on the crest?”

  Ken poured himself a glass of water. “Not really.”

  Elijah rinsed his hands and dried them on the dish towel. “If you get a chance to review the footage, check it out. You’ll notice how dirty the crevices are. It’s blood.”

  Everett looked over as he continued to turn the handle. “What, like animal blood?”

  Elijah lowered his head again. “Human.”

  Everett curled his lip in disgust. He wasn’t sure how Elijah could know such a thing, but Everett sensed a high degree of confidence associated with the statement. “That’s horrific.”

  Elijah looked up as if he were going to cry out to God. “And it’s only the beginning. The Ebola outbreak, the typhoid epidemic, the deaths from the famine caused by infrastructure collapse; it is all a sacrifice on the altar of Satan. Holocaust.”

  Ken reloaded the hopper so Everett could continue to grind. “Yeah, this is way worse than the Holocaust.”

  Elijah turned to him. “The word holocaust means ‘sacrifice.’ It comes from the Greek holos meaning ‘whole’ and kaustos meaning ‘burn.’ Under the old covenant, the Jewish people would make whole burnt offerings as a sacrifice to God. And, likewise, the sacrifices made in the coming holocaust will be to the dark lord himself.”

  Ken nodded. “So kaustos must be where we get the word caustic, which refers to a chemical agent that burns. That makes a pretty good adjective for the New World Order: caustic.”

  Elijah lifted his eyebrows. “Yes, well, I’m afraid it will become an increasingly appropriate adjective. Tell me, what other news did you hear since the last time I saw you?”

  Ken stuck his hands in his pocket. “My use of the radio is limited since the power went out. I try to restrict my time on the ham to an hour a day to stay on top of the local situation.”

  “But the thirty-five amp hour battery I gave you should keep your radio going for several hours.”

  “It will, but I don’t want to be running up here and bothering you every day to recharge it.”

  “Who’s bothering me? I’m on the top of a mountain all alone. I appreciate the company. Please, feel free to bring it up every day. I’ve got several, so I can send you home with a fresh one while I recharge the other. Believe me, the goats look forward to you and Lisa coming up here. They get a break from me talking their ears off.”

  Ken smiled. “Okay, thanks. And I brought the double As from the shortwave to recharge.”

  “Good. And the news?”

  “Right. Russia has moved troops into Kazakhstan and Georgia. There have been some skirmishes reported, but neither of those countries is in much of a position to oppose Russia. China has also sent occupying forces into Laos, Vietnam, and Mongolia. It seems like all the schoolyard bullies are dividing up the spoils.”

  Elijah began mixing the herbs along with a healthy portion of salt into the ground meat. “And Luz isn’t saying anything about the aggression?”

  “Quiet as a mouse. None of those nations has been willing to make a commitment to the Global Republic, so they are on their own. What surprised me is that China has battleships in the sovereign waters off the coasts of Japan and New Zealand. There has been no response from Luz or the UN over that action. I suppose the Global Republic has all it can handle right now.”

  Everett quit grinding after the hopper was empty. “Sounds like China and Russia are making their moves before the Republic has a chance to get established.”

  Elijah continued mixing the sausage. “Any word on the Ebola or typhoid outbreaks?”

  Ken sighed. “Typhoid is all across the South now. It’s being reported in eastern Texas. Georgia and Louisiana have been hit the hardest, but there’s no sign of it letting up in Florida, Alabama, or Mississippi. It would be such an easy fix if the UN wanted to stop it. I know the CDC has the antibiotics stockpiled, if Luz would just distribute them.”

  Elijah began putting the sausage in the casing. “And sheath the sword he created?”

  “You think it’s an engineered strain?” Everett looked into Elijah’s eyes.

  The old man just nodded. “And the Ebola. Even with the weakened states of the victims due to poor nutrition, the death tolls are phenomenal. We’ve never seen anything like it.”

  Elijah held up several strings of sausage. “You’ll have a lot of meat that should keep well without refrigeration. If you get another deer, we can smoke a couple of the hams whole.”

  Everett said. “I’ve actually still got a freezer full. Could we thaw and smoke a few hams from the freezer?”

  “Absolutely, let’s get these in the smokehouse, and I’ll show you how I hang them.”

  The three men carried the first batch of sausages to the smokehouse, which was good and smoky by this time. Everett couldn’t help but sense some level of providence in having met Elijah. The simple fact that he was still alive, when the rest of the country was dying at an alarming rate, flew in the face of statistical probability. But today was not the day to think about such things.

  CHAPTER 11

  Human civilization is not something achieved against nature; it is rather the outcome of the working of the innate qualities of man.

  Ludwig von Mises

  “Did you get anywhere with Mr. Davis on the steam engine?” Noah opened the door for Jim and Elliot.

  Jim took off his coat and hung it on the coat tree. “Yeah, we got the steam engine. The motor-pool fuel tank at the sheriff’s office was drained dry. Someone drilled a hole in the bottom to make sure they got the last drop. I don’t have any idea how we can fix it if we do find gas.”

  David didn’t get up out of his recliner. “Did you swing by the Kettle?”

  Elliot hung his coat as well. “It had been broken into, but not trashed. Probably just desperate folks looking for food.”

  Sarah stuck a log in the fire and
positioned it with the poker. “What about the sheriff’s office. Had anyone been inside?”

  Jim shook his head. “No, we had that place locked up tighter than a drum.”

  Kevin came out of the back room where the radio was. “Yes, but where there’s a will, there’s a way. Benny was waiting for you guys to get back. He’s got someone on the radio that he thinks you’ll want to talk to.”

  Jim wiped his feet once more before walking off of the welcome mat. “Alright, let’s see who it is.”

  With little to do, everyone crowded into the small guest bedroom being used as the communications room. Benny passed the mic to Jim. “It’s Cliff Atkins.”

  Jim took the mic and depressed the talk button. “Cliff, good to hear from you. How’s everything?”

  The trucker’s voice came back over the speaker. “To tell you the truth, I’ve been better.”

  “You still driving?”

  “Yeah, but we’re under new management.”

  Jim chuckled. “I heard.”

  “You know, part of the reason I kept going was because my family was being cared for. That’s not the case any longer. I’m sure you know that the UN cut power everywhere in the states except for facilities that are vital to their own interests. My wife and son were doing okay over in Swisher, Iowa, with our FEMA rations until Luz came along. The town is falling apart, and things are getting more dangerous by the day. Talk around the water cooler is that the Global Republic is planning to let America starve for a while longer, so whoever manages to survive will appreciate whatever scraps they throw our way. In the meantime, they’ll get the rest of the world on track and feed those of us working for them just enough to stay alive.”

  “Sorry to hear that. Anything we can do for you?”