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

by Mark Goodwin

  Elliot picked up the jug of water from the floorboard and took a drink. “Thirsty?”

  “Yeah. Can you pour some of that in my water bottle?”

  “Sure.” Elliot unscrewed the cap of the one-liter plastic drinking container in the console of the truck. “You didn’t agree with what David did back there.”

  “I don’t want us to be reduced to savages. I understand that we have to do what we have to do, but that seemed uncalled for. What do you think?”

  Elliot passed the bottle over to Noah. “David has been in combat over in the desert. He has a unique perspective about war. I understand his point about the psychological effects. Hit ’em fast and hit ’em hard. I don’t think he derived any pleasure out of going the extra mile on the emissary, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “Yeah, well, he also didn’t appear to have to fight back his disgust to get the job done, either.”

  Elliot took another swig from the jug. “Can I ask you a personal question?”

  “Sure.”

  “You shot that guard next to you, point blank. Does it bother you as much as the men you killed in the raid on the detention center?”

  Noah hadn’t even thought of making that comparison. “Uh, no. I don’t know. Right now, I’m just doing what I have to do. It’ll will probably bother me later.”

  “Then it’s possible that it might bother David later, too. Just remember who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. And remember, David would do anything in the world to protect you and your family.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Noah didn’t want to lose focus on the mission. But, he also didn’t see it as a matter of insignificant quibbling. Elliot had a point. David did have more battle field experience, and that’s why he was the tactical leader for the group. If he wasn’t completely flying off the rails, Noah’s job was to fall in line. While he didn’t agree with what David had done, the reasoning behind it was sound.

  With the detour around Knoxville and the back roads from Mount Juliet, the drive was roughly four hours.

  They arrived at the closed water park on the Cumberland River just before three in the afternoon. The team still had several hours to kill before the time of the assault. Kevin cut the lock that secured the maintenance building so they could hide out inside until it was time. Everyone ate an MRE upon their arrival. Some tried to take naps afterward, but that was out of the question for Noah.

  Sarah tapped Noah on the arm. “Come on, we need another guy for spades.”

  “You’re going to play cards, now?”

  “Yeah, unless you’d rather sit and worry about whether or not you’re going home tonight.”

  Noah stood and followed her. “Cards sounds better.”

  Sarah and Kevin were a team. Noah and Danny were the other. The hours passed, and it was soon time to gear up.

  David walked around and handed out another round of MREs. “Eat now. If we step in a pile of poop tonight, it might be a while before you get another chance.”

  Noah read the label and tore open the package. “Vegetarian taco pasta. Who thought this one up?”

  Elliot opened his. “I’ve got cheese tortellini.”

  Noah took a bite. “Not bad.”

  Elliot took a bite of his. “Could be better. I guess I was expecting something more.”

  Noah snickered. “I guess taco pasta doesn’t set you up for quite the disappointment that cheese tortellini does.”

  After they ate, everyone geared up and did a final inspection. The water park was just over five miles upriver from the warehouses. David’s farm truck would be left at the boat launch as would the TWRA truck. Jerry and Cliff put the boats in the water and took them to their staging location, which was just inside of the location where Mill Creek emptied into the Cumberland. They would wait there until five minutes before the time of the attack. Then, they would take the boats to the pick-up zone.

  The other eight men loaded into the two trucks from the impound lot and drove down to a residential area, right behind the warehouses.

  David led them through the bushes, cut the fence, and went into the back lot of the warehouses, where alpha team, consisting of Noah, Elliot, Sarah, and Kevin went left, and bravo team, consisting of David, Danny, Sean, and Aiden went right.

  Kevin led the way for alpha. He put his fist in the air signaling to “halt,” then, with two fingers, pointed from his eyes to the two guards directly in front of them. Kevin pointed to himself, then right; then he pointed to Sarah, then left, signaling that he’d take the guard on the right and she’d take the guard on the left.

  Noah felt bad for the two guards. They looked like average security guards and not at all like UN troops.

  Kevin held up five fingers and counted down until Sarah nodded.

  Noah figured that meant they would simultaneously shoot after the countdown.

  Kevin held up his hand again and dropped one finger to set the time, then took aim.

  Noah counted down in his head. “Three, two, one.”

  POP! The sound of Kevin and Sarah’s rifles was indiscernible. Both guards dropped to the ground simultaneously. Kevin led alpha team to the front of the first building where they soon saw David’s team come around the corner.

  David whispered to Kevin, “You guys enter and see if you find anything that we can fit in the boats. Try to check all five warehouses. We’ll sweep the lot, then come back to the door with the trucks.”

  Kevin nodded, then cut the lock on the door. Sarah rolled the door open.

  Noah looked down the canyons of pallets, stacked high with ammunition boxes and wooden crates. Kevin led the way down the center aisle. “Stay together.”

  Noah tapped Kevin’s shoulder. “Look at those barrels. BAE IMX 101.”

  Kevin stopped. “IMX is the explosive material. BAE Systems is the contractor who produces it. We’re going to need to get some distance before we light this place up.”

  Sarah said, “I’m not seeing any shoulder fired rocket systems or anything we could really use. Looks like mostly big shells. And we don’t have the big guns to shoot them.”

  Elliot pointed at the pallets toward the rear. “There are cases of 5.56 over there.”

  Kevin nodded. “We’ll make a note of it. Let’s check the other four warehouses.”

  On the way back out, they heard an exchange of gunfire. Noah looked at the others. “Sounds like David ran into more security.”

  Sarah grimaced. “Yeah. They probably already called for backup when they heard our initial shots. We better move fast.”

  Kevin nodded in agreement and picked up his pace. They quickly scanned the other four buildings, which all looked very similar, except for the barrels of IMX 101.

  Minutes later, David’s team pulled up in the two trucks. “Find anything?”

  “Some 5.56. Otherwise, not a lot we can use,” Kevin said.

  “Just as well. We don’t have a lot of time for shopping today. Sean, Aiden, let’s get those gas cans with our homemade napalm and start pouring it on some of these pallets.”

  Kevin said, “Hold on just a second.” He continued to explain the barrels they’d found and laid out his new plan for destroying the warehouses.

  David nodded. “Let’s do that instead.”

  Working in teams of two, they quickly, but carefully, moved one of the barrels of the explosive to each of the other four warehouses.

  Noah and Elliot worked as a team and gently rolled the barrel from the center warehouse to the one just north of the center building.

  Elliot clicked on the light mounted on the front of his AR-15 and shined it on several crates just past the entrance. “Frag grenades.”

  Noah looked. “Let’s grab one.”

  Elliot nodded and they each took a side and headed back to the truck.

  David squinted to see the writing on the crate in the low light. “Good find. Any more where that came from?”

  “A couple pallets of them.” Elliot motioned back toward the
warehouse they’d just come from.

  David waved his hand across this throat to signal to Sean and Aiden to stop. “That’s enough of the 5.56 ammo. We found something a little better.”

  Kevin and Sarah poured healthy amounts of the napalm over the five plastic barrels of IMX, cut slits in the sides of the barrels, and set the remaining napalm, still in the can, on top of the barrels.

  Danny drove one of the trucks into the warehouse with the grenades, and the team quickly loaded nine more crates.

  “That’s it, we have to roll out. Now!” David shook his finger in the air back and forth.

  Danny drove slowly while Noah and Elliot sat in the bed of the truck and dribbled two steady streams of the gas and Styrofoam mixture from two of the five-gallon gas cans. They would use the two trails of homemade napalm to ignite the barrels of explosives in the warehouses.

  Noah slapped the side of the truck to signal for Danny to stop. “I’m out.”

  Elliot turned his can upside down. “Me, too.”

  David called out from the other truck. “Give us a two-minute head start then light ’em up. That’ll give us a chance to load the crates into the boats. Danny, drive like you’ve never driven before. Stuff is going to be flying everywhere when those warehouses go. Godspeed!”

  Everyone but Noah, Elliot, and Danny were in the lead truck when it took off to rendezvous with the boats.

  Noah and Elliot both checked their rifles to see that they had tracer rounds in the chamber. They sat the empty gas cans in the puddle of napalm to use as targets.

  Noah patted the side of the truck again. “Take it slow. I’ll let you know when we are as far away as we can get.”

  “Roger!” Danny put a hand out the driver’s side window and began to creep forward slowly.

  Elliot looked over at Noah. “That’s about as far as we can go. Otherwise, the shots will be obstructed by the trees.”

  Noah nodded and slapped the side of the truck. “Five rounds on zero.”

  Elliot took aim as did Noah. “Five, four, three, two, one.”

  They both took five quick shots.

  Noah saw the fire jump around both gas cans and began racing toward the warehouses. “Go, go, go!”

  Danny hit the gas and spun out, racing toward the bank of the river. They arrived in seconds. Noah, Elliot, and Danny ran to the boat where Cliff was waiting for them.

  Cliff yelled, “Let’s go; let’s go!”

  The other boat was already in the water and headed back toward the water park.

  Noah had just stepped in the boat when the first warehouse blew sky high. The force of the explosion knocked him off his feet as it did Elliot. Cliff and Danny were already seated, but they felt the shockwave of the blast as well. Cliff quickly got the boat going and was headed toward the rally point by the time the second warehouse detonated. The energy of the second eruption caused the front of the boat to lurch forward, momentarily taking in water over the bow.

  Noah and the others stayed low to avoid flying shrapnel, and they dared not to look back to witness the spectacle of destruction. They soon made it safely back to the water park. They stowed the boats in the service building, then loaded their loot into the two trucks.

  They wasted no time in getting back on the road and out of the search perimeter. They stayed on Route 70 rather than taking Interstate 40 to avoid seeing UN vehicles. It required them to move slowly, but it was safer. Noah fought to stay awake. He was up front with Cliff, who was driving. Sarah, Kevin, and Elliot were all in the back seat and sound asleep. Noah was worried that if he nodded off, Cliff might be tempted to do the same. The thought hit Noah, he’s a truck driver. If he couldn’t stay awake, he wouldn’t be here. It was all the convincing Noah needed. He was out.

  Benny’s voice came over the radio and woke Noah. “If you guys can hear me, don’t come home. We just got hit. They took Jim. They’re all over the roads; stay as far away as you can. I’ve got to go.”

  “What time is it?” Noah had to get his bearings.

  “Just after midnight” Cliff said.

  “Where are we?”

  “We went through Cookeville about fifteen minutes ago.” Cliff let off the gas. “Looks like the other truck is slowing down. I guess they heard Benny, too.”

  Elliot was awakened by the transmission as well. “I don’t guess there’s any way to call Benny back.”

  Kevin’s voice came from the backseat. “Not a chance. He’s over a hundred miles out. He’s transmitting with a lot of juice using NVIS; we can pick him up, but these little radios would never send a signal that far.”

  The truck in front turned into the parking lot of a Methodist Church and turned off its headlights. Cliff followed them in and cut his lights as well.

  David got out and walked back to the truck Noah was in. Cliff rolled down the window, and David leaned in. “I guess you guys heard that.”

  “Yep.” Noah leaned forward to make eye contact with David.

  David looked back at the other truck. “Cumberland Mountain State Park is right up the road. It would be closed for the season, even if we weren’t in the apocalypse. That might be a good place to lay low for the night. They have cabins, so it’d be better than sleeping in the woods. I think we need to listen to Benny. I don’t want to walk into a hornet’s nest. What do you guys think?”

  “I agree,” Noah said.

  The others also voiced their approval of David’s plan.

  “Okay, we’ll kill the lights when we get near the gate. If we see any guards, we’ll drive around to the back of the park and go through the woods. I used to come up here when I was a kid. I know it pretty well.”

  “Then we’ll follow you,” Cliff said.

  David returned to the lead truck and it drove back onto the pavement. The park was less than twenty miles up the road. The chain blocking the entrance was quickly cut by Aiden, who then dummy locked the chain after both trucks pulled through. Aiden returned to the truck in front, and they crept through the park to the cabin area.

  David had the trucks pull up to one of the cabins in the rear and unload. He then instructed the drivers to pull the trucks into the tree line to be less noticeable in case someone were to happen by.

  Once everyone was inside, David addressed the group. “Guys, I think we should hang out here tonight. I know it’s cold, but we have to skip building a fire. If you want, we can scavenge some more blankets from the other cabins. At least we won’t be exposed to the cold air. Everybody get something to eat, go to sleep, and we’ll figure it out in the morning. If everyone does a two-hour watch, we can have two lookouts all night.”

  David wrote numbers on small pieces of paper and had everyone draw a number to determine which shift they would have for night watch. Noah drew first watch, which worked out fine for him. He wasn’t going to sleep right away anyway. David also drew first watch.

  After everyone had eaten, Noah and David found comfortable positions near the window where they could keep an eye on the road leading up to the cabin area.

  David sat in a wooden rocker that he pulled in from the porch. “We can take turns walking a patrol around the perimeter every fifteen minutes. We’ll each have a radio, so if we run into anything, we can call in, and the person inside can wake everyone up. But no one knows we’re up here. I don’t think we have anything to worry about. The most likely scenario would be that a patrol would come by and notice the trucks back in the woods, but even that is highly unlikely.”

  Noah nodded. “What’s your plan for tomorrow?”

  David shook his head, and his face was filled with despair. “I don’t know. We don’t have any good solutions. And we are completely in the dark. I wish Benny would have given us a little more info, but it sounded like he might have been in eminent danger. Maybe my place has been overrun. Heck, they might have Benny by now. Who knows?”

  “If they have Benny, do you think he would be able to hold up under interrogation? I’m sure Jim won’t say anything, but do
you think they could get Benny to tell them where the girls are?”

  David snorted. “You don’t know these twisted freaks the way I do. Jim will talk. Everyone talks. If you don’t know anything, you’ll start making stuff up. CACI perfected the art over in Abu Ghraib. They raped men and forced men to watch their wives and daughters being tortured. These sick animals figured out that if they isolated men and let them hear a woman being assaulted down the hall, the men would each assume that it was his wife or daughter that was being abused. And guess who got the GR contract for domestic information extraction in the former US.”

  “CACI?”

  “Yep. That’s what Benny’s guy said. And he’s been right on everything else up to this point. Jim can’t hold up to that forever. You couldn’t, I couldn’t, and nobody could. The best bet is to never be taken alive. But, it’s a little too late for Jim, unless he can figure out a way to end it.”

  “You mean suicide? I don’t think Jim would ever do that, no matter what. Don’t you think suicide is a sin?”

  David sighed. “I think God is merciful. If you’d ever seen what happens to the mind of a person subjected to long-term enhanced interrogations, you’d probably think God would make an exception for that. What if it’s the only way to protect your family? What if you have the chance to take your own life and you know if you don’t you’re going to break and reveal the location of Lacy and Cassie? Would you do it? Doesn’t the Bible say that if a man doesn’t provide for his family, he’s worse than a pagan or an unbeliever? Is that verse just talking about beans and cornbread, or is it talking about security and protection as well?”

  Noah did not want to think about this. He didn’t want to think about what Jim might be going through, what Benny could be facing, or what decisions he may have to make in the near future. “I don’t know. I wish this wasn’t happening. I wish this would just all go away.”

  Then David pulled out his small King James New Testament from his back pocket and turned to 2 Corinthians 4 and began reading from the sixteenth verse. “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”