The Days of Elijah, Book Two: Wormwood: A Novel of the Great Tribulation in America

by Mark Goodwin

  The Days of Elijah

  Book Two: Wormwood

  Mark Goodwin

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  Technical information in the book is included to convey realism. The author shall not have liability or responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused, or allegedly caused, directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book.

  All of the characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 Goodwin America Corp.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author, except by a reviewer who may quote short passages in a review.

  ISBN: 1540357724

  ISBN-13: 978-1540357724

  DEDICATION

  Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the Lord.

  Proverbs 18:22

  To my beautiful bride. Thank you for your love and support. I love you forever.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  A most heartfelt note of appreciation to my wonderful wife and constant companion. Thank you for your patience, encouragement, and support.

  I would like to thank my fantastic editing team, Catherine Goodwin, Ken and Jen Elswick, Jeff Markland, Frank Shackleford, Kris Van Wagenen, Sherrill Hesler, and Claudine Allison.

  CHAPTER 1

  And the Lord saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; But have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

  Jeremiah 9:13-15

  Everett Carroll brushed the dirt off of the potatoes as he picked them up and placed them in the plastic bucket next to the one he was using as a stool. “The garden has certainly produced better than last year.”

  Courtney Carroll gently swung the hoe, digging up potatoes just ahead of where her husband was working. “Much better. The heavy snow last winter seemed to knock most of the volcanic ash out of the air. The pollution from the ash was like a constant haze blocking the sun and pretty much snuffed out any hope of a garden. I hated being cold and pinned up in the cabin because of the snow, but it’s been nice having fresh vegetables. I was worried that the next round of judgments would begin and wipe out this year’s crop.”

  Everett picked up the bucket he’d been sitting on and moved it further down the row. “They could start at any moment. It’s been eighteen months since the Seventh Seal was opened. Saturday is Rosh Hashanah. I always get nervous around the Jewish holidays.”

  “That’s right. The Seventh Seal was opened on Passover.” Courtney leaned on the hoe as she paused for a short break. “But Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish New Year. It’s a time of celebration. It seems out of character for God to send judgment on a day designated for celebration.”

  Everett crushed large clods of dirt to check for any small potatoes that might be hidden within. “I see your point, but I’m not too sure about that.”

  “Why?”

  “Typically, in the Bible, times of celebration are sort of a reward for being obedient. In Isaiah, chapter one, God lays out his case against Judah. He says he hates their appointed feasts because they aren’t obeying him. He goes so far as to call their sacrifices vain oblations.”

  “So you think God could start the next round of judgments on Rosh Hashanah?”

  Everett shook his head. “I don’t know. I hope not. But if the seven years began when Luz signed the treaty on the New Year’s before last, we’ve got just over five years left. Sooner or later, the angels will unleash the Seven Trumpets and the Seven Vials of Wrath.”

  Courtney stared at the soil beneath her feet. “And woe to us poor souls who have to live through it.”

  Everett stood up and put his arm around her. “Heaven is on the other side. Once we get through the next few years, it’s all downhill from there.”

  She placed one hand on the back of his neck. Her smile didn’t look sincere. “Yeah, thanks.”

  Everett tried to stay positive. He forced a smile in return. The hope of glory gleamed bright in his heart, but the heavy cloud of concern over the immediate future was dark and ominous. “You’re a good wife. Times are tough, but I’m blessed to have you to help me through.”

  She put her head on his shoulder. “You’re so sweet. I love you, Everett.”

  The piercing sound of a whistle rang out from the direction of the house.

  “That’s the alarm. Come on, let’s get to the house.” Everett clutched the handle of the bucket containing the potatoes and abandoned the one on which he’d been sitting.

  Courtney followed him, carrying the hoe in one hand and drawing her pistol with the other. “I guess we have to be thankful for the good times we’ve had. This past year has been fairly peaceful.”

  Everett walked briskly toward the house. “Considering this is the Tribulation, you’re right. We have to count our blessings.”

  Sarah was putting Cupcake, the rough-looking farm dog who also answered to Danger, in the house when they arrived.

  Everett set the bucket down on the porch. “What’s happening?”

  Sarah handed him the field glasses and pointed toward the east. “Another chopper.”

  Everett held the binoculars to his eyes and peered out over the foothills. “Courtney, douse the fire in the rocket stove. It doesn’t produce much smoke, but if they’re using thermal, the stove will stand out like a ketchup stain on a white dress shirt.”

  Courtney quickly ran to put out the fire which Sarah had started so she could cook lunch.

  Kevin came outside and stood on the porch. “Are they headed this way?”

  “It’s hard to say.” Everett watched the helicopter for a few seconds then handed the field glasses to Kevin. “I’d say they’re roughly three miles out.”

  Kevin peered through the glasses. “They’re definitely making a surveillance run. My guess is that they’re gathering information on how many survivors are in and around Woodstock.”

  Sarah crossed her arms. “I suppose that means they’ll be setting up shop in Woodstock soon. Once that happens, they’ll be flying patrols around here regularly.”

  Kevin handed the binoculars to Courtney when she returned from extinguishing the fire. “It was fun while it lasted.”

  Sarah stuck her hands in her back pockets. “No fire in the stove means cold lunch.”

  Courtney led the way back into the house. “That’s the end of our chores for the day. I’m going to call Elijah on the radio and let him know there’s a chopper in the area.”

  Everett followed her in. “Make it a short call. They’re probably scanning the frequencies.”

  “I will.” Courtney placed the binoculars on the kitchen counter and headed up the ladder to call Elijah on the handheld.

  Kevin went into the bedroom and returned carrying a cardboard box. “This was the last case of MREs under the bed. We’ll
have to make a run out to the cave soon. We’re running low on some staples as well. We need rice, sugar, cornmeal, toilet paper, and soap.”

  Everett opened the doors of the cupboards and looked inside. “Yeah. We need to get that done before the aerial patrols start getting closer to the cabin.”

  Kevin opened the case of MREs and took out four packages. “I haven’t seen any patrols flying at night yet. Maybe we should go at sunset tomorrow.”

  Everett stared at the sparsely stocked shelves as he thought through the suggestion. “Then we’d have to drive back after dark. The roads are in really rough condition between here and the cave. Even with the headlights on, it would be a difficult path to navigate.”

  Sarah took a seat at the kitchen table. “If the Global Republic decides to start flying night patrols tomorrow, they’ll spot you from miles away with your headlights on. It doesn’t sound safe to me.”

  Kevin placed the box on the floor and sat down beside her. “So we drive out to the cave just before evening tomorrow. We load up the truck, sleep at the cave and drive back at first light on Saturday.”

  Everett closed the cupboard doors and pulled out his chair to sit down. “Rosh Hashanah starts at sundown tomorrow night. I think Elijah is planning a big meal.”

  Kevin began opening his MRE. “Then we go the day after. We’ve still got a few weeks’ worth of supplies.”

  “We could go tonight.” Everett sighed. “As long as there are no helicopters flying when we’re ready to leave.”

  Sarah looked at Everett. “You think something is going to happen, don’t you? You think the Trumpet Judgments are going to start on Rosh Hashanah.”

  “I didn’t say that.” Everett tore the top off of his MRE.

  Sarah took the individual components out of her MRE and positioned them on the table. “But you didn’t deny it. There must be some reason you’re pushing to go get supplies before the holiday. Did Elijah say something to you?”

  “No. Nothing at all.” Everett looked over his shoulder to watch Courtney coming down the ladder. “It’s just that the Seventh Seal was on Passover. I’d rather be prepared, in case something does happen.”

  Courtney tussled his hair as she sat down. “Don’t be scaring everybody. The Seventh Seal marked the end of the Seal Judgments. We’re waiting for the beginning of the Trumpet Judgments.”

  Everett bowed his head. “Let’s bless the food so we can eat.”

  All of them held hands as Everett said a short prayer.

  Kevin opened his pouch and began eating. “Everett is right. It would be better to be prepared. We’ve been eighteen months without a major catastrophic event. Sooner or later, the next wave of chaos will begin.”

  “Then we’ll go tonight. We can drop Cupcake off at Elijah’s on the way.” Sarah continued eating.

  Everett nodded. “It gets dark around 7:30 so we’ll head out around 6:00, provided there are no chopper sightings.”

  “Should we bring anything?” Courtney asked.

  Everett shook his head. “Just battle rifles, in case we step in a mess on the way. We’ve got sleeping bags and everything we need in the cave. It will be a good chance to stay there and identify anything we should have in the cave in case we have to bug out.”

  “I hope no one has found the cave,” Sarah said.

  “You guys didn’t take Scratchy over there, did you?” Courtney inquired.

  Everett shook his head. “No. When he helped us haul our supplies across the landslide area, we brought everything to the house.”

  Kevin said, “We figured bringing him to the house was the lesser of the two evils. A boulder crushed the F-150 on the other side of the landslide during the Great Quake, so we had no choice. We needed his van to ferry the goods to the landslide. He offered to help us hike the goods over, one backpack full at a time, to our side of the landslide. We couldn’t very well make him wait on the other side.”

  “Scratchy isn’t going to rob us.” Everett smiled.

  “Unless he gets desperate.” Courtney crossed her arms. “He’s opportunistic. And that bunch he runs with down in Winchester would best be described as omnivores.”

  Sarah pursed her lips and looked at Courtney. “Yeah, bears are pretty gentle unless they’re hungry.”

  Kevin nodded. “Even so, they know we’re heavily armed, and there’s no easy way to get supplies out of here. The roads are blocked in both directions.”

  Later that afternoon, Everett stood on the porch with the binoculars. He scanned the skyline, looking for helicopters and listening for the sound of aircraft.

  Courtney joined him. “Do you see anything?”

  He lowered the field glasses. “No. The coast is clear. Tell everyone that we’ll leave in about fifteen minutes.”

  “Roger that.” She kissed him on the lips and went back inside.

  Minutes later Everett and Kevin retrieved the ladder. Next, everyone loaded into the green Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency truck which Kevin and Sarah had brought with them to the cabin. Kevin drove, making a brief stop at Elijah’s.

  Elijah came out to greet them. “You’re early! The dinner isn’t until tomorrow.”

  Courtney explained the trip out to the cave.

  Sarah asked Elijah to keep Cupcake inside as he would be a sure sign of an occupied residence if a chopper spotted him.

  Elijah nodded. “Of course I’ll keep him. I suppose I should consider keeping the goats in the barn as well. They won’t like that. But we’re all making adjustments. They’ll have to do their part. Be safe and go with the blessings of the Almighty.”

  Everyone waved goodbye to Elijah and continued toward the cave. Once they’d traveled as far as possible by truck, they parked near the mountain stream and followed the backwoods trail on foot. Everett held one end of the ladder while Kevin followed him with the other.

  Courtney was the first to reach the opening of the cavern. “It doesn’t look like anyone has disturbed the cave. In fact, it’s really overgrown. If I didn’t know what I was looking for, I’d never spot it.”

  Everett was close behind her. “Yeah, it’s very well concealed.”

  Kevin began clearing away the brush which was growing around the opening. “We better keep moving. It will be dark soon. I’d like to get at least one load down to the truck before nightfall.”

  Sarah clicked on her flashlight and peered inside before crawling through the opening. “I don’t see any signs of bears or snakes. I can deal with anything else we might run into.”

  “I don’t want to see any bats either.” Courtney followed her through the small hole.

  Everett helped Courtney into the cave then fed the ladder to her so she could pull it through. “Nor badgers. You can shoot a bear, but a badger running at you at full speed is a hard target to hit.” Everett crawled low to clear the overhanging tree roots.

  “There’s no badgers this far east.” Kevin was the last one in the cave. He stood up and brushed off his knees.

  “I’ve seen badgers in Virginia,” Everett protested.

  Kevin repositioned his ball cap on his head. “You saw a skunk.”

  Everett launched his defense. “I know the difference between a badger and a skunk. If I was a betting man . . .”

  “If you were a betting man, you’d be losing money on this one brother, trust me.” Kevin patted Everett on the back as they proceeded back toward the wall with the ladder.

  They arrived at the rear wall of the large open room which they called the cathedral. Everett and Kevin positioned the ladder near the opening on the upper level. Everett climbed to the storage area and began lowering supplies with a rope.

  Sarah called to him. “Bring down enough supplies for two trips. While you guys are taking the first load to the truck, I’ll ferry the other load to the entrance. Remember that I can’t haul buckets on the uneven trail with my prosthetic leg.”

  “Sure thing.” He lowered several more boxes and buckets then came down the ladder.

&nb
sp; By the time they’d returned to the cave from the first sortie, the forest was pitch black. It was a new moon and the stars by themselves offered little more than a soft glow in the sky above.

  “No use trying to navigate back down to the truck. It’s way too dark. Using flashlights would defeat our purpose of coming at night.” Courtney gazed into the void of the woods.

  “I’m not sure we want to bring more than one more load of stuff anyway. I know we want to make the most out of every trip because there’s no gas, but it’s only a few miles. We could hike over on foot if we had to.” Everett led the way into the cave.

  Kevin followed him inside. “It wouldn’t be the first time.”

  Everett climbed the ladder and retrieved the sleeping bags.

  Courtney caught them as he tossed them over the side. “Can you grab the radio? We’re going to be pretty bored in here all night with minimal light.”

  “Sure. We’ve got cards also.” Everett crawled back into the long corridor which they were using as a storage area.

  “Good, grab those too,” Courtney replied.

  Everett collected the remainder of the items they needed to make camp in the cave and climbed back down the ladder. He handed the radio to Courtney.

  She turned on the power and scrolled through the channels. “Static.”

  Everett shined his flashlight at the roof and the cave walls. “I guess no radio waves are traveling through the layers of rock above us. We need some wire so we can run an antenna to the entrance.”

  “Do we have any?” Sarah asked.

  Everett thought through the inventory of the supplies stashed overhead. “No.”

  “Good. We can put that on our list of things we need to bring out to the cave.” Courtney unrolled her sleeping bag. “At least we have cards. Who’s ready to get whipped at Spades?”