Story Time Page 4

  “‘Did you have any trouble getting here?’ his eyes were wise with understanding.

  “Ralph sighed and rubbed a palm over his face. ‘Nothing that I haven’t seen a thousand times over the years…’ He smiled suddenly, and the years dropped away. When Pastor Ralph smiled, his teeth gleamed and his eyes almost disappeared in laugh-lines of mirth. When the pastor talked about God’s glory and smiled, even the nonbelievers had reason to pause, and reassess their agnostic tendencies.

  “Ralph’s wife, Katie, climbed out of the car and came to give me and my brothers a hug. ‘Thank you so much for inviting us to come, child,’ she whispered. Her plump cheeks were shiny with tears. It occurred to me suddenly how old the pastor and his wife were. Although Katie’s hips and legs were still large and round, her arms were frail and her hair was frosted with white.

  “‘The kids and grandbabies are far away in New York, and Alabama. They’ll be okay, I’m sure, but it’s just too far for us to travel. Besides, this is the only home we know.’ Katie Edgington patted my shoulder and stepped back.

  “Ralph cleared his throat. ‘We don’t own a travel-trailer or an RV. I’m sorry. But we did find an old tent down in the basement of the church. We used to pack it up every year for Bible camp. I thought me and the Mrs. could set up house in that.’

  “I looked to my uncle Allen, who shook his head.

  “‘No, I don’t think so, Ralph. The boys and I have been working on the bunkhouse. It’s small, but it’s weather tight. How does that sound?’

  “The relief that flooded Pastor Ralph’s eyes was heartbreaking to behold. He nodded his thanks and offered, ‘Maybe the tent could be put to good use, though…maybe a mess hall type get-up…it was an old Army tent, heavy canvas…I think it’s about twenty by thirty. It’s a little moldy, but it’s sound.’

  “‘Sounds good, Pastor. That’s just what we’ll do. First, though, let’s get you and your wife situated. I think dinner should be served up pretty soon… right, Nay?’

  “I smiled, nodding. ‘Speaking of which, I have to finish harvesting the greens. Dinner’s ready in about an hour. We’ll eat and talk about our chore lists then, okay?’

  “The pastor and his wife thanked me, and I hurried to the greenhouse. Despite his best intentions, my uncle Allen had become the unofficial head of our household within the last couple of weeks. It wasn’t as though he craved the power over us… as a matter of fact he seemed embarrassed when he actually needed to put his foot down on one of our schemes.

  “It was simply because he had the know-how and experience we lacked. The boys looked up to him, and followed him everywhere he went. I thought it was because Allen looked and spoke a lot like my Dad. Also, much like my father and mother, Uncle Allen and Aunt Wanda genuinely cared about us. The boys and I were lucky to have them and I thanked my lucky stars.

  “When we first decided to gather people together for support and strength in arms, we made a list of rules and a rotating list of chores. Allen figured if everyone had to take turns in doing the work that needed to be done, no one would feel picked on or over-burdened. So far, everything was going great. Tonight after dinner, we would give copies of the by-laws and chore lists to our new residents.

  “I was watering the lettuce beds and picking a new crop of aphids from the tomato plant’s leaves when I heard a muffled shout. Since the earthquakes, I was prone to sudden fits of panic and anxiety. This time was no exception. I took a deep breath and willed my heart to slow down.

  “I placed the Rubbermaid bin of spinach and lettuce greens on the bench by the front entrance and stepped outside. I saw Allen, Zack and Stevie running toward the front porch of the house. Allen caught my eye and shouted, ‘Naomi, get in here.’

  “People were walking toward the house with the still and stricken faces of holocaust survivors. I saw Josh step out on the porch and look over to where I stood. He flew down the stairs and into my arms.

  “‘What’s going on, Josh?’ I murmured, as he held on to my waist. I could feel tremors shaking his body, and my heart sped up again.

  “‘It’s the dam, Nay…Grand Coulee Dam. It broke!’ my little brother sobbed, and my blood ran cold. I couldn’t even imagine what a catastrophe like this would mean to the people of the Northwest, Oregon and northern California.

  “I had to keep calm for Josh’s sake. ‘Come on…let’s go in and see.’

  “I kept my hand on Josh’s shoulder as we walked up the stairs and stepped inside the house. Everyone, except for Ralph and Wanda Edgington and David Tolliver, were crowded into the living room. My uncle glanced over at me and frowned. Then he patted the couch seat next to where he sat.

  “‘Come here, honey,’ he said. The love and worry in his voice made me tremble. I wanted to turn on my heel and run, but his steady gaze compelled me forward. I sat and watched as the life blood of the western half of the United States spilled out over the broken concrete walls of one of the world’s biggest dams, drowning over a half a million people.

  “I found out later that a tiny crack in the bottom face of the dam had opened wider and wider during the earthquakes until finally, millions of cubic yards of water took out not only the towns below it, but two other dams as well; Rocky Reach Dam and Wannapum Dam. The water rushed in a seething torrent, like a storm at sea. It crushed everything in its path, from Coulee City to Wenatchee and beyond. It demolished towns like Bridgeport, Brewster and Pateros, seeping them like teabags under ten feet of water. People, buildings, mud, cattle, horses, sheep, and concrete finally washed up in the Hanford nuclear reservation.

  “Life as we knew it had come to an end.”

  Chapter 6

  The Aliens –

  Michael and Gary Anderson were lucky. They took off just after the sun went down…two hours after their initial encounter with the deadly Urkuli and the weak, but peaceable, Tatularians.

  Forty-five miles southeast of Boise, Idaho, the satellite feed on Michael’s radio cut out. He pulled off the highway, and parked under a tall maple tree. He and his brother listened as the announcer on the Emergency Broadcast station spoke of the arrival of an alien species on planet earth. The two men learned that a warrior species, called the Urkuli, (so named, because it was thought the aliens came from the direction of Ursa Major) had arrived the night before in giant ships shaped liked aircraft carriers. Once parked in earth’s atmosphere, the mother ships started laying eggs in the form of gunships.

  The world’s military powers tried to destroy the ships, but within hours of the spaceships’ arrival, the planet’s defenses were breached.

  The world’s largest cities were taken first: New York, London, Tokyo, Lisbon, Paris, Chicago, and Seattle. There was speculation that Los Angeles would have been neutralized, but there was hardly anything left to conquer since the earthquakes and eventual flooding destroyed most of that state.

  Michael and Gary listened aghast, as they learned the Urkuli simply placed a sort of invisible dome over each city, filling the dome (and the millions of people and animals trapped within it) with poison gas until everything was dead.

  The whole process took less than an hour per city. When the aliens finished with one large metropolis, they simply removed their dome and flew off to destroy another city. Fleets of alien airships were dispersed at regular intervals, apparently with orders to dispatch any citizens who tried to flee.

  Another group of aliens traveled with the Urkuli, but they were a different species, the Tatularians. Their ships were as tiny as the creatures that operated them. Although they did not seem particularly aggressive, they trailed after the Urkuli like vultures. Because their smaller ships seemed more vulnerable to attack, earth’s forces focused their defenses on the Tatularians. Unfortunately, even these small ships were encased in a bubble-like force field. The bubbles would pucker and shimmer with the impact of bullets and canon fire, but they always held. The Tatularians were as impervious to attack as the Urkuli.

  Michael and Gary exchanged a glance
.

  “Do you think that those little guys we saw were Tat…whatever?” Gary whispered, as he stared out the windshield and up at the moonlit night.

  “Probably,” Michael answered.

  Three times during the night the brothers either sensed, or actually saw, fleets of Urkuli ships sail through the sky. Each time it happened, Michael wondered if he and Gary were breathing their last moments of life, but their luck held. They chose little used side roads, watching as the ships sailed along bigger, more frequently traveled highways. They saw the blue lights from the ships change from yellow to red, and saw the horizon light up with the ray’s impacts. There was a low cloud cover in the night sky, and the heavens above them revolved in rainbows of color like a kaleidoscope.

  Just before dawn the next morning, Michael and Gary rolled to a stop by the side of the road outside of Boise, Idaho. They were physically and mentally exhausted, but they hadn’t seen any alien ships for the last two hours, and for that they were grateful. They’d listened to satellite radio all night. They heard about the aliens and about a new level of seismic activity around Yellowstone National Park.

  They learned about DUMBs (deep underground military bases) and found out that what was left of the United States military was now being deployed to stand guard around these installations. Apparently, many of the aliens who were now attacking the planet had actually deployed their forces from these very same bases. The brothers shook their heads in disbelief.

  Just as they pulled off the highway to rest for a minute and grab a bite to eat, a new and different emergency tone rang through the Pioneer speakers. Michael and Gary glanced at one another and stared at the radio. That was when they heard that Grand Coulee Dam had given way.

  “Good God!” Gary exploded. “The world is ending, Michael!” Tears streamed from his eyes, and he reached out a hand and clasped Michael’s wrist.

  Michael held his brother’s hand for a moment and their quiet sobs filled the air. Then, the broadcast cut off in mid-tone. Michael fiddled with the volume control and the station finder, but it wasn’t until he switched over to the AM frequency that the men heard local radio broadcasters babbling hysterically about the latest disaster. He shook his head, turning the radio off.

  “I’m sick of hearing this. Also, we need to save the batteries. No more radio for a while, okay?”

  Gary nodded, in silence.

  “We need to keep our cool, bro…” Michael spoke into the quiet. “Maybe the world is ending…maybe not. We don’t know. But in the meantime, we need to stay focused and try to help our family.” He rubbed his hands over gritty eyes and gave his cheeks a light slap. He was shaking with fatigue.

  Gary nodded. “I know. I’m all right, Michael. It’s just hard to believe this is happening.”

  “Shhhh!” Michael hissed, glaring through the windshield. The inside of the car filled with the light of many approaching vehicles. Michael winced. They were too exposed here on the road. Weariness and shock had dulled his senses, made him sloppy. As the vehicles drew near, Michael knew that this mistake might cost them their lives.

  “What is it?” Gary moaned.

  Michael squinted through the glare. “Some sort of convoy, I think. It’s big.”

  With those words, the lead vehicle blew past them in the dawns faint light. The brothers saw that it was a convoy of Army rigs: large transport trucks, Humvees, Armored Personnel Carriers, and big black SUV’s. They counted over thirty vehicles, trembling in the aftermath of their fear. Then the soldiers were gone, heading east into the dark.

  “Maybe they’re going after the little green men!” Gary whispered.

  “Yeah, or running away from them,” Michael responded. “Hey, let’s get out and grab a bite to eat. First though, I have to find a better place to park.”

  He stared into the near distance and spied a rest stop about a mile ahead of them on the road. He hadn’t seen the signs announcing the stop’s presence, but then it was dark until only a few minutes ago. Right before they’d left Denver, Michael had removed a couple of fuses from under the car’s dashboard. This enabled them to run without brake or parking lights. It was surprisingly easy to drive without headlights, but things one usually saw while driving at night, like road-signs, were lost in the gloom.

  He could see that trees dotted the landscape around the area, and he nodded in satisfaction. It was time for a real bathroom break, and maybe some soap and water to freshen up with.

  He started the engine, glancing up and down the road. He saw no one coming, so he took off. Within a couple of minutes, the brothers were parked under a large tree.

  They walked into the men’s restroom and used the toilets. Then, standing in front of the sink, they took turns using the cold water to shave and wash under their arms. They spoke quietly, carefully aware of the fragility of one another’s emotions. They put on fresh clothes. As they changed, they discussed the best route to travel the final leg of the trip into Spokane. Gary wanted to use the side routes. Normally Michael would agree, but there was a new sense of urgency, now that the dam had broken, that urged him to move quickly. This latest disaster would turn an already horrible situation into something he couldn’t even comprehend.

  They brushed their teeth, packed up their dirty clothes, and stepped out into the morning light. There were three cars surrounding Michael’s Prius. One was an old van. It was parked immediately behind the Toyota. The other two vehicles were wedged up on either side of their car. One was a rust-eaten station wagon. The other was a newer model Dodge Ram pick-up truck.

  The Prius’s back hatch was open. Two women were taking the food and water out of the Toyota, and putting it the van. Someone else was rummaging around in Michael’s car, and he heard a triumphant shout. The figure rose into view, and the brothers saw that the man held their rifle in his hand.

  “God damn it…”Gary breathed, reaching behind his back to grab the pistol that was tucked into the back of his belt.

  “Gary… no,” Michael whispered. “There are too many of them. Look!”

  Michael saw at least four men and one woman standing in amongst the trees. All of them carried pistols, rifles, and shotguns. All of those weapons were aimed at him and his brother.

  A large, balding man stepped away from cover and walked toward them, grinning. He was an older man—in his late fifties, or early sixties. He was heavy-set, and walked with a swagger.

  “Well, lookie what we got here… a couple a niggers,” he drawled. “Big bucks, too… whoeee!”

  Michael’s teeth clenched in anger. Deep-rooted fingers of humiliation and shame stirred in his gut. There was a ripple of laughter, and from the corner of his eye, Michael saw his brother stand up straight.

  “Gary!” Michael’s voice was urgent. “They’ll shoot us dead.”

  “Fucking rednecks!” Gary’s normally deep voice was high with tension.

  Michael clicked his tongue, and called, “Take what you need. We don’t want any trouble.”

  The old man took his baseball cap off, scratching his head in consternation.

  “Now, why do you think there there’s going to be trouble?”

  He grinned, and spat on the asphalt in front of his feet. The act was so arrogant, so dismissive, Michael’s throat seized with fear. He knew suddenly, with calm certainty, these people planned on killing them, with no more regard for their lives than if they were killing a couple of nuisance coyotes.

  Michael felt beads of sweat pop on his forehead. He licked his lips. “Just take what you need and be on your way, okay? My brother and I are heading to Spokane, to help our mom and the rest of the family. You don’t need to hurt us.”

  “We ain’t gonna hurt you, boy. We gonna kill you—you and your jigaboo brother there, too,” the man smiled. His eyes were like icicles, shiny and gray with hatred.

  “Dad, look!” the young woman, who held a shotgun, yelled.

  The man looked at where the woman pointed, and for a moment, Michael did too. He saw
one of the silver-scaled spheres sail over the treetops and hover above the standoff in the rest area.

  At the same moment, he sensed movement to his right. He saw Gary grab the pistol in his belt, crouch and fire at the old man. As if in slow motion, Michael saw the man’s left shoulder blossom in red. As the man fell, Michael heard a thunder of gunfire. He felt bullets enter his body like hammer-blows, and he saw his brother fall to the ground in a shower of red rain.

  Michael lay on the ground and stared as a mist of green light poured out of the Tatularian ship. The green cloud fell upon the gun-wielding attackers. Through his shock and pain, Michael heard distant screams of agony.

  Michael stared up at the little alien ship, and into the large black eyes of the co-pilot. He understood that this was the same alien ship he and his brother had seen before, in Utah. He was surprised, grateful, confused. The pale blue sky started spinning around and around. Michael closed his eyes against the sun’s glare, and the dark compassion in the gray alien’s eyes.

  Chapter 7

  The King’s heart is like streams of water. Both are under the Lord’s control. He turns them in any direction He chooses. 21:1 God’s Word

  Naomi and the Lions –

  “Within a week our ranks tripled,” the old woman sighed.

  “It was a terrible time for everyone. We were filled with grief, fear, and now that the satellite feed was gone, uncertainty. Streams of cars drove up the long gravel driveway to our house seeking shelter…sanctuary. My uncle, my brother Zak, and at least three other men spent almost every waking moment at the gate.

  “We let many people come in, and turned many others away. I was not allowed to come near, so I never really understood why some were allowed to stay while others were denied access. The first time I asked however, the sorrow I found in my uncle’s face was hard to bear, and impossible to ignore. I asked my brother about it later.

  “‘Uncle Allen made a list,’ Zak said. ‘I’m not supposed to talk about it, Nay, but there are these questions. People need to answer the questions…it’s like a test. Some don’t pass, that’s all.’