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

by Mark Goodwin

  Cassie looked over the seat. “What’s that?”

  “I didn’t believe you. And I’m sorry. Thank you for never saying ‘I told you so.’ You would have had every right,” Sharon said.

  Cassie reached back toward Sharon with her hand. “You know I’d never say anything like that. I didn’t want to be right.”

  Becky bent forward to look at Noah. “I’m assuming DC still has power.”

  Noah chuckled. “Oh yeah. They have everything. Benny has a contact from the intelligence community not far from DC. According to him, it’s like one of those fancy resorts in Mexico or the Caribbean, surrounded by death and poverty, but inside the fence, the party never stops.”

  “How is the barter market going at the Kettle?” Sharon asked.

  Noah looked in the rearview mirror to make brief eye contact. “It was going great before the snow. The weather has hampered activity quite a bit. But it was really a hit before the storm, and I suspect it will be after the roads clear. Thank you so much for letting us use it for that. Beyond the bartering, it immediately became a location for the exchange of news, information, and survival tips. One person figured out how to make soup. Someone else had a recipe to make fuel.”

  “A recipe for fuel?” Cassie looked confused.

  Noah pursed his lips. “Well, a recipe for moonshine, but it will run a diesel engine if it’s distilled enough.”

  “We used to make candles out of wax from my grandmothers beehives,” Sharon said.

  Noah glanced up at the rearview. “Candles are one of the highest demand items at the barter tables. We should try to get some wax and see what you can come up with.”

  “Get me the wax, and I’ll make all the candles you want. I’ll just need some cotton twine for wicks.”

  “I’m pretty sure we can get that.” Noah nodded.

  Becky peeked across at Noah again. “No word on the Global Republic census workers or infrastructure workers yet?”

  “Not in our country, at least not yet. No news is good news. Europe, Britain, Canada, South Africa, Australia, they are all moving right along from what Benny has been able to pick up from the occasional international transmissions over the radio.”

  Cassie furrowed her brow. “So basically, all the Eurozone and anywhere with the Queen’s face on the money is getting face tracked. That makes sense. Those are the countries that have been most receptive to global governance. They’re also the most post-modern and willing to accept the new global religion mandates.”

  Noah chuckled. “I don’t know. There are some American churches that will be salivating to sign up to the New World Order’s religion, if they survive.”

  Cassie nodded. “They’ll survive. The Vatican will make sure of it.”

  “And when the Global Republic shows up? What’s the plan?” Becky asked.

  “If they show up,” Noah answered, “we’ll fight. The Kettle is also being used as a recruitment center for a militia. That effort is chugging right along. Lots of folks are ready to support us directly, by fighting alongside; and others, less physically able to fight, have pledged to do their part with information gathering and keeping us stocked with any supplies they can get their hands on.”

  “You can’t defeat the New World Order,” Sharon said.

  Noah took a deep breath. “Maybe not, but we’re not rolling over and giving in.”

  The long drive provided plenty of time for them to discuss what the future might hold. And that’s just what they did.

  CHAPTER 14

  See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants-- it will be the same for priest as for people, for master as for servant, for mistress as for maid, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor. The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word. The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left. The new wine dries up and the vine withers; all the merrymakers groan. The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent. No longer do they drink wine with a song; the beer is bitter to its drinkers. The ruined city lies desolate; the entrance to every house is barred. In the streets they cry out for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all gaiety is banished from the earth.

  Isaiah 24:1-11

  The weeks passed, and the brutal winter persisted. Early Wednesday morning in late January, Everett Carol climbed down the ladder from the loft and stuck two logs in the fireplace to get some heat going.

  Courtney followed him down and started the morning coffee over the open fire. “Ken and Lisa are already asleep?”

  “Yeah, they go to bed at first light. That’s when I’m supposed to get up and take watch, but I guess I’m letting complacency take over. I just can’t imagine anyone sneaking up on us in the daylight. Besides, I’m usually awake to hear anything going on. But with this freezing cold, it’s really hard to force myself to get out of that warm bed.” He walked to the kitchen, picked up the small AM/FM/Shortwave radio from the counter, and brought it to the living room.

  “You’re preaching to the choir. The only reason I get up is because the bed is a lot less warm with only one person.”

  Everett smiled and winked at her as he scrolled through the channels to find the new Global Republic Broadcasting Network. It was a completely state-run station, which was obviously coating all the news in several layers of propaganda, but, being an American, Everett was used to that. He found the channel and sat the radio on the table while he waited for the coffee to brew. A female news reporter with a British accent was speaking, and her voice expressed extreme urgency.

  “Tsunami warnings are in effect throughout the day for New Zealand, Japan, and Indonesia. Several quakes registering a magnitude of 8.0 and higher have occurred along the Mariana Trench subduction zone as well as the Kermadec Trench.”

  Courtney’s eyes opened wide. “Turn that up.”

  Everett complied with her request, and they both listened closely.

  “Seismologists believe the quakes along those two subduction zones were triggered by a massive chain reaction of quakes that began along the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

  “I’ll recap what we know so far for the folks just tuning in with us. Three hours ago, a massive earthquake, estimated at 9.4 and lasting for over five minutes struck Vancouver Island. Shockwaves toppled buildings in Vancouver, Seattle, Tacoma, and Olympia. Minutes later, the San Andreas Fault began to erupt with a swarm of quakes registering above 9.0. From San Francisco, through LA and past San Diego, cities have been devastated, roads upended, and bridges destroyed. It is entirely too early to estimate the damage in terms of human life or currency, but in a word, it is absolutely catastrophic. Less than an hour after the quake with its epicenter in Vancouver Island, a swarm of quakes began to occur along the coasts of Peru and Chile. Many of those quakes are estimated to have been as high as 8.8 on the Richter scale. Lima and Santiago are both among the devastated cities along the Pacific South American coastline.”

  Courtney interrupted the broadcast. “You’d better wake up Ken and Lisa.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” Everett tore himself away from the mesmerizing news to go get his friend. He rapped softly on the bedroom door. “Ken, wake up, there’s something you need to see.”

  Everett heard no response, so he knocked a little harder and spoke a bit louder. “Ken, wake up, man.”

  “Be right out.” Ken’s voice came from the other side of the door.

  Everett went back to the living room.

  Seconds later, Ken appeared in the living room doorway with the shotgun in his hands. “What’s going on?”

  Evere
tt tried not to snicker, but Ken looked hilarious. His hair was a mess, his shirt was on inside out, his belt wasn’t fastened, and he was standing there, wild-eyed, with the shotgun, ready to blow someone’s head off. “A massive swarm of quakes are hitting all around the Ring of Fire. You won’t need the shotgun just yet.”

  Ken seemed to process the information slowly. After a brief pause, he said, “Okay, let me go tell Lisa we’re not being attacked.”

  Ken came back in less than a minute. His belt was buckled, but his hair was still a mess, and his shirt was still inside out. “What’s going on?”

  Everett pointed to the radio. “Listen.”

  Courtney poured a cup of coffee for Ken and handed it to him. “You look like you could use this.”

  Ken took the cup and smiled. “Thanks.”

  The three of them sat and listened to more of the details as they were coming in. Lisa came to the living room, bundled up in her housecoat minutes later. Courtney offered her a cup of coffee as well, but she signaled with her hand that she didn’t want any.

  Ken turned toward Everett. “This is horrific, but this is exactly the distraction we’ve been waiting for to hack into the Global Republic communications satellite. All of their intelligence agents will be watching for the big players to make a move, so we’ll be able to sneak right in.”

  Everett nodded. “Yeah, between the smoke screen of the quakes and having to worry about China or Russia attacking, they won’t have time to pay attention to what we’re doing. Did you get the dish built?”

  “I finished building it; we’ll have to see if it works. I’m sure it will receive, but transmitting is another animal altogether.”

  Lisa looked concerned. “They can’t track your location with that?”

  “They can’t pinpoint it.” Ken drank his coffee hurriedly.

  Courtney poked the fire to keep the flames from getting too hot around the coffee pot. “And remind me, why do you need to hack their comms satellite?”

  Everett started putting his shoes on. “Code Name Spindle, our spook buddy over in Tennessee, is part of a group forming a militia. We know that the Global Republic is slowly replacing US military personnel on the bases with UN peacekeepers. In the meantime, they’ve been carting off all of the munitions from the bases to undisclosed warehouses. Spindle’s team is hoping they can get a list of those warehouses to raid for supplies. Then they can use the ammo to arm the militias, or, at least, they can destroy it so the Republic can’t use it.”

  Lisa hugged Ken and kissed him. “I’m proud of you. You’re doing the right thing.”

  Courtney held her hand up. “Wait, are we sure there even was an earthquake? How do we know the Republic isn’t spewing misinformation for whatever reason?”

  Everett looked at Ken, who just shrugged. “Maybe we better verify the event before we run off.”

  Ken nodded. “Good thinking, Courtney. I’ll get on the ham right now and see who I can contact out West.”

  “I’ll get some breakfast going. I have a feeling we’ll need our strength today.” Everett found some oatmeal and the large cast iron dutch oven they used for cooking in the fireplace.

  Courtney came to the kitchen. “Let me take care of that for you. Do whatever you need to do to get ready.”

  He kissed her on the head and smiled. “Thanks.”

  “What?” Courtney looked at him suspiciously.

  “Nothing.” Everett fought back a grin.

  “Yes, Everett Carol, you found somebody to cook for you. You won. And I don’t care because I love you.”

  He gave her a hug. “And I love you.”

  She returned the embrace. “Then we both won.”

  Shortly thereafter, Ken rejoined the others in the living room. “The reports are legit. They felt the quake all the way in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.”

  “Okay, let’s eat, and we’ll get started,” Everett said.

  Ken nodded. “I’ll start getting all of the radio equipment ready to take up to Elijah’s.”

  Courtney served a bowl of oatmeal for each of the two men. “Why can’t you do it here?”

  “Elijah has a good amount of batteries. If this transmission antenna works, I’m going to need a lot of juice to push the signal to the satellite.” Ken took a bite of oatmeal then ran off to grab some gear. He returned seconds later with some cables, took another bite of his oatmeal, and disappeared once again.

  “Do you want to come with us?” Everett, still standing, took a bite of his oatmeal.

  “Yeah. I need to get out of the house. You don’t think Elijah will mind?” Courtney stirred another spoon of sugar into her oats.

  “Are you kidding? He loves company. Besides, he’ll see it as an opportunity to convert you.”

  Courtney laughed. “Lisa, are you coming?”

  Lisa shuffled her feet toward the bedroom. “I’m going back to bed while you guys save the world, if you don’t mind. That’s why I turned down the coffee. Tell Elijah I said hi and I’ll see him soon.”

  “Okay, night-night.” Courtney waved at her friend.

  Half an hour later, Everett, Courtney, and Ken had the necessary equipment loaded into the BMW. Everett drove up the mountain very slowly, as the roads still had patches of ice. Once there, they were greeted with a warm smile from Elijah.

  “Welcome, welcome. Come in; it’s so good to see you.”

  Ken embraced the old man with a hug. “I’m sure you heard about the quakes.”

  “Yes, it’s terrible. But we knew it would come.”

  They all carried a load of equipment from the car and followed Elijah inside.

  Ken was careful with the transceiver as he placed it on Elijah’s table. “Was this the quake the Revelation talks about?”

  Elijah smiled at his young student. “No, in that quake, every mountain and every island will be moved from its place. That includes the mountain we’re standing on. That quake will be much worse. Much, much worse.”

  Everett handed the parabolic antenna to Ken. “Then why did you say you knew it was coming?”

  Elijah looked into Everett’s eyes. “The Lord told us. In Matthew twenty-four, he said that we would have famines and earthquakes and that they would be the beginning of birth pains. When a pregnant woman’s time is getting close, she begins to have labor pains. The closer her time comes, the more frequent and the more intense the labor pains become. In fact, they have a term for false contractions; Braxton Hicks Contractions they’re called. Many women think they’re going into labor, but it’s a type of pre-labor contraction where the body is preparing itself for labor. Today’s quake, I’d call it a Braxton Hicks quake. But, the real thing is coming. It’s coming soon. And so is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.”

  Everett was always freaked out when he saw undeniable evidence of the prophetic writings that Jones, Lisa, Ken, or Elijah told him about. But he always found a way to dismiss the seriousness. “Yeah, it was a big quake. The Pacific Plate and the Nazca Plate are both showing lots of activity. We could definitely see some more action out of them. The scientists don’t know what to make of it.”

  Elijah just smiled. “So, Ken, what is this project you have all over the place here.”

  Ken explained the equipment and what they hoped to do.

  Elijah picked up a length of cable and inspected it. “Then let’s get it set up.”

  The four of them worked diligently at getting the various components of the apparatus set up in order to break into the satellite feed. Everett knew that if the Spindle’s militia friends were to have any effect at all against the Global Republic, they would need solid intelligence. He also knew that the window of opportunity in which they could still tap in, using their knowledge of the old framework, would soon be closed.

  CHAPTER 15

  According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down
from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

  1 Thessalonians 4:15-18

  The weeks since the earthquake passed, and Noah lay in bed next to Cassie early on a Monday morning in late February. “I don’t want to get up.”

  She smiled. “Me neither. I love all of our friends, but it’s really cramped having so many people in our house. But, I’m glad I let you talk me into moving upstairs and giving the Rodgers our bedroom. It gives us a little more space to ourselves.”

  Noah looked down at his little girl sleeping on the cot near the foot of their mattress. “Yeah, even with Lacy up here, we’ve got plenty of room.”

  Sox, the cat, who had also been sleeping on the cot with Lacy, put one paw out and dug his nails into the blanket and then did the same with the other for a deep stretch. He drew one paw back and rested his head on it as he looked at Noah.

  Noah smiled and shook his head. “Ornery cat.” Sox hadn’t been so insistent about sleeping next to Lacy until Danger came to live with them. Danger, who was now called Cupcake by all the girls in the house, tried to cuddle up to Lacy one time. Sox had smacked the fire out of him and made sure it would never happen again. Even though Sarah had brought Danger out to the Parker’s house to be her dog, he had quickly taken to Lacy and followed her wherever she went. Danger lay on the floor next to Lacy’s cot, at a safe distance from Sox and his razor sharp claws.

  Cassie ran her fingers through Noah’s hair. “Yeah, when I offered Lacy’s room to Sarah, I meant just Sarah. I intended for Kevin to sleep on the couch.”

  “I know, but what are we going to do? Ground them?”