by Cliff Ball
Dave was hesitant to answer. Powell would be under the leadership of the Patriarch, and as a new Christian, Dave didn’t want to be targeted so quickly by the Anti-Christ and his people. He prayed a quick prayer to ask God to lead him, and then he replied in an accent to try to throw off Powell, “Howdy, Mr. Powell. I’m Dave Abbott and I’m fine. Uh, problem is, we were struck by a right big earthquake around these parts as the volcanoes blew up, so many people are dead. Some, like me, are a bit shaken up, while we have many others who are injured, some badly. We could use your help, if you’re so inclined,”
“They’ll be on their way to you, Mr. Abbott, but it’ll be a few hours before they’re able to get to you. Can you hold out that long?”
“We’ll do our best. We’ve got ourselves canned food and somewhat drinkable water, plus some animals that are still alive to hunt, so a lot of us can hold out for many weeks if we have to,”
“You won’t have to wait weeks. Where can our people find you when they arrive?”
“Well, see that there church over yonder?” Dave pointed to his right.
There was silence for a minute or so before Powell replied, “Why did you have people take refuge there?”
“Mostly we done it because it was one of the few buildings left intact. I heard tell a long time ago that churches are where people in trouble should go, so that’s where the few hundred of us went. There wasn’t anyone there to help us, which was weird, if ya’ll ask me. We found us a lot of canned food and bottled water stored up in that there building, so that helped,”
“Ok, well, sit tight and our people will be on the way. This drone has to keep searching before it has to return for refueling. Good luck, Mr. Abbott,”
“Thanks and happy searching, Mr. Powell.” As the drone continued on its way, Abbott waved at the drone until he could no longer see it, and then he hurried back to the church as fast as he could while lugging the dead boar on a litter.
Once back in the church, Dave sought out the people who’d been at the church longer than he had. “I have some news, and it’s probably not good,”
“What is it?” asked Jeff Michaels, one of the first to have sought out a church to go to after the earthquake, and had appointed himself the leader, since he said he had some political experience as a city councilman for College Station. The others were still unsure if he had asked Jesus into his heart, mostly because his attitude didn’t always reflect a newborn in Christ, so the group was in almost constant prayer about his soul.
“The new administrator over North America, his name is Steve Powell, is using drones to find out the situation around here, and I happened to be one of the people he decided to speak to through his drone. I told them we have some sick and injured, so they’re going to do their best to help us sometime in the next few hours, probably after the drones have finished searching for more survivors. What should we do?”
“I think we ought to accept whatever aid they give us, but we should be wary of their motives. We really don’t know what they plan on doing to people who reject the new world system, so I think it’s best to wait and see,” replied Jeff.
“You mean you don’t really think they’re going to arrest us and chop off our heads?” asked Lindsey.
“They might and then again, they might not. So, they’re going to implement a new way to buy and sell, but that doesn’t mean that we’ll be executed for not wanting to do what they want. I mean, we can grow our own food and Dave here shows that we can also hunt for food too. If this Administrator Powell is willing to aid the survivors with no questions asked, then why should I look a gift horse in the mouth?”
“Whatever you say, Jeff, but I think you’re being naïve,” replied Dave.
“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”
For the next two and a half weeks, the aid received from rest of the North American region required nothing of the people receiving the aid. Dave and Lindsey were among the majority who thought something bad would happen, but they weren’t sure when, so they tried to always be on the lookout for the potential trouble. The minority, like Jeff, thought the majority were seeing problems that weren’t there so people like Jeff didn’t worry about potential problems. Then came the replacement of Powell with Wayne Davis.
Since Powell had taken over his duties, he had his people working at restoring power to the survivors of the former southern United States. Electricity still worked for some, like those in College Station, but now the region were able to access the internet and watch television, even though the only network to watch at the moment was the United Earth Television Network (UETN). Most everyone liked Powell, as he was fair and didn’t seem to be a dictator in the mold of the Patriarch.
The morning of the transition of power in the North American region came to a great shock to many when they watched the execution of Powell and his associates on television. As the people watched the beheading of Powell, they reeled at the shock of seeing their leader beheaded, and felt fearful as they watched Wayne Davis take his position and declare to the region what he planned on doing.
Dave, having lived in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, knew precisely who Wayne Davis was and what he was capable of, causing Dave to worry even more about what was coming next. He said to those gathered in the church, “I know Administrator Davis will stop at nothing to do exactly what is required of him. He ran Dallas like his own little fiefdom and punished those politically opposite of him regularly. When Dallas’ population was hit with incurable viruses when they took in sick illegals, he sat back and did nothing. If he says he’s going to harshly punish us if we resist, then I believe him. I also have no desire to join the rest of the world in following a new religion, which is something we’ve all be warned about that’ll take place now that we’re in the Tribulation. I also don’t think we can just fly under the radar, so what should we do?”
“I guess we let go and let God. If we continue to be faithful to Him and not buckle under to the world or its leader, we’ll be greatly rewarded when we meet Him after this time of tribulation. I think we should live our lives and deal with whatever comes up day-to-day.” Lindsey replied.
Murmurs of agreement were all around her and most decided to live for God and whatever happened in the future, they’d deal with it when it came up. There were some, however, who felt that it would be better to follow the Patriarch rather than go against the grain, and would wait for the opportunity to join the rest of the world in peace, harmony, and unity when it came.
A few weeks later, they saw an ad on television for the new loyalty mark that was commissioned by the High Priest of the Union, Kevin Josten. The ad held their interest, but also made the group of Texans anxious.
“Attention loyal citizens of the North American region. Are you and your friends prepared to show your loyalty for the Union of United Earth and the global church? In addition to the barcode on your arm, you can get this awesome tattoo on your forehead to show that loyalty,” a picture of person with the symbol on their foreheads flashed on the screen, showing them with their friends having a great time, “and be among the billions who will declare their support for peace, harmony, and unity. Remember, it’s for the children! You can go to your local Universal Congregation office for more details. Don’t delay!”
“Yeah, I don’t think so. I don’t want to burn in Hell for choosing to side with Satan,” Dave said.
“Me either. I wonder if they’re making it mandatory though?” asked Lindsey.
“Does it matter? They’re making it too hard to live without following their rules. Administrator Davis’ security forces go throughout the region and destroy gardens and crops so they can control the food supply. They’ve been taking away rifles and shotguns from hunters so there won’t be anyone who hunts for food. They also view gun owners as potential threats to their power, so guns have been taken away by force. They can and will force us to accept the marks. We can’t fight that!” complained Jeff.
“Don’t worry, Jeff, God’s in
control. Nothing happens without Him knowing about it,” Dave replied, trying to get Jeff to calm down.
“So you say, Dave, but I need to look out for my own family, and we’ve suffered too much as it is. If we leave, none of you should try to stop us.” Jeff left the room, taking the darkness that seemed to hover over him with him.
“You don’t think he’ll sell us out, do you?” asked Lindsey.
“Could we stop him if he was going to?” replied Dave.
“No, I guess not. I guess I need to do my devotions and pray so I won’t worry so much.” Lindsey got up from her chair and left the room.
“I think doing devotions is a good idea. I can worry about this other stuff later.” Dave went to his room and began doing devotions.
Meanwhile, in Big Bend, the Preppers in hiding watched the execution of Administrator Powell with shock and dismay. So far, the North American leadership or the military hadn’t figured out the Preppers were in Big Bend, but now that Wayne Davis was in charge had Pete Robertson worried. The new leader’s ruthlessness and lack of compassion was well-known in most of Texas, at least to those who paid attention to such things. Many of the Preppers who lived with Pete’s group were from Dallas and had lived through Davis’ time as the Mayor. They knew that when it came to demonstrating his power, the new North American administrator wouldn’t hesitate to show it off. But, they also knew there well hidden and hoped to stay that way.
“I’ve been thinking about whether we should start letting people in who are trying to escape the tyranny of the Union of United Earth?” Pete asked his wife.
“I don’t know. We might get noticed a lot more if we did. If lots of people are traveling by car or walking to an area the authorities think is mostly void of life, they might wonder what was going on. Considering how heavily armed we are, are you sure you want to get their attention, which would be followed by a battle we couldn’t possibly hope to win?”
“You raise some good points, Sweetheart. I imagine most of the authorities in Texas are probably dead, so those outside of our borders probably knows next to nothing about us, if at all. We’re isolated now, but we wouldn’t be if we extended an invite to those who want to hide. Now, if there are some who manage to make it here on their own, we’ll take them in, just as long as it’s safe to do so. What do you think?”
“I agree, my Dear. Meanwhile, we can talk to fellow Preppers and other anti-government types around the world who have access to shortwave communications to see how they’re doing and managing to survive.” Janet glanced at the clock on the wall, got up from sitting next to her husband, and said, “Well, almost lunch time, so off I go to make lunch.”
“Good, I’m starving!” Pete playfully replied, while kissing his wife before she went to the kitchen.
The others discussed with Pete what was going on and agreed with the plans to keep avoiding the supposedly all-seeing eye of the Patriarch and the Union of United Earth.
Chapter 8
For over three weeks, people in the northern hemisphere were able to see at night the asteroid that was headed directly for the planet. Very few of the general population knew that China, before Patriarch Karimi came along, had made plans to bring the asteroid to Earth, park it in orbit, and mine it for its resources. China’s plans fell by the wayside when the two American astronauts assigned to bring the asteroid to Earth vanished without a trace and the Chinese Space Agency had no way to stop the asteroid’s headlong plunge towards the planet. For those who were curious, barely any news on it could be found through internet searches, mostly the searches came up with old articles about China launching the project, nor had the news networks reported on it. But, that all changed the night before the asteroid was projected to hit the planet.
China’s administrator appeared on television, mostly aimed at his own region, but it was carried live worldwide by UETN. “Greetings, citizens of the region of China. As many of you know, I am Administrator Li Bei Sheng, the head of this region. I come to you tonight to let you know about a coming disaster headed for this part of our planet. As you may or may not know, the previous government of China commissioned the space agency to harness an asteroid to mine it for minerals and metals. Unfortunately, the space agency lost control of it months ago and it will be plunging to our planet tomorrow, specifically it will hit somewhere in the Pacific. I am issuing orders to the militia to move those of you on the coast further inland until the coast is safe from potential tsunamis. Do not hesitate and do not resist following the militia inland. This is all I have to say for now. I wish peace and blessings on you. Goodnight.”
Administrator Li walked away from the podium and the camera switched to the in-studio anchor, who said, “As you know, China wanted to harvest this asteroid, but those plans went out the window. In spite of our reporters’ best efforts to find out precisely how the astronauts up and vanished without a trace, the best guess we can come up with is that they were also abducted by the Centurion aliens. If that’s true, China should’ve conducted a more thorough background check on these two haters. Could it be the two purposely directed the asteroid towards Earth so it could cause massive damage? We’ll never know for sure.
“According to Mr. Li’s office, due to limited resources, the Chinese were limited in what they could do when it came to trying to stop the asteroid from being pulled in by Earth’s gravity. Rumors have it that the current head of the space agency may be held responsible for this impending disaster, and when he is, we’ll let you know about it first on this network. We’ll also interrupt scheduled programming once the asteroid breaches our atmosphere and it plunges into the Pacific. Here’s a simulation from our computer that shows the projected path of the asteroid,”
A graphic came on screen showing the asteroid’s projected path. The computer doing the projection showed the asteroid possibly hitting Hawaii directly, and projected the possible collateral damage to the rest of the Pacific Ocean, the surrounding islands, and the mainland’s of Asia and North America. The possible damage to North America would only add to the destruction caused by the earthquakes and volcanoes, but would definitely destroy more life west of North America. Another graphic displayed possible economic problems and a projection of the deaths caused by the asteroid’s impact.
“As you can see, the asteroid’s collateral damage will be a big hit to the economies and populations of at least two regions, three if North America hadn’t been devastated by their own natural disaster from a few months ago. Stay tuned to this UETN station and we’ll bring you more news as it comes. We wish peace and blessings on you and yours.”
When the asteroid hit the atmosphere, everyone in North America and in northeastern Asia could see it. The asteroid turned into a fireball and a sound unlike anything anyone’s ever heard before rumbled through the sky as the asteroid hit the sound barrier. UETN utilized drones to follow the asteroid on its downward plunge, which was now projected to hit directly on Midway Island. Drones recorded the frantic reactions of the residents of Hawaii and other islands in the Pacific as the asteroid hit the water and caused massive waves to wash over the islands of the Pacific, killing millions of people as walls of water hit them.
The effects of the asteroid hitting the Pacific were also shown by the many drones tasked with recording the event. The asteroid being massive enough to also touch the seafloor sent shockwaves through the crust, activating more fault lines, causing many volcanoes along the Ring of Fire to activate. As ocean water flooded over Japan, Mount Fuji erupted. In the Philippines, Mount Pinatubo erupted once again as ocean water destroyed half the island. All ocean going vessels in the Pacific were destroyed and sinking, while all marine life surrounding the most devastated areas of the ocean died, causing vast tracts of the Pacific to be red with blood. Remains of human civilization also floated in the Pacific, with millions of bodies floating in the water alongside destroyed remains of buildings. The scene looked eerily similar to the tsunami that hit Japan and its Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in 201
1, but was hundreds of times worse. The talking heads of UETN began talking about the estimated toll the asteroid had on the region.
“From the footage taken from the drones, I believe we can estimate that one-third of life in the Pacific died and the asteroid’s impact destroyed one-third of the economy of the region,” stated an economist.
“What would that do to the rest of the world?” asked the UETN anchor.
“I’m not sure it’ll have that much of an impact. The Patriarch told these administrators that they only have so much resources to work with and once those are depleted for the year, no more will be allotted to them. I’m sure the citizens of the global community will chip in to help, but the regions themselves will be limited in their response,”
“Before this disaster, China was attempting to complete their dominance of outer space, and was close to achieving what the Americans or Russians could never do. Will the Patriarch finally put a stop to all space exploration?”
“Yes, I think so and I believe he has. Space exploration is considered to be an economic black hole in some circles, so don’t expect anyone in the know to shed a tear over mankind trying to build a civilization on Mars or whatever. What assets we do have in space, on the Moon or on Mars, has been written off, as many feel we should direct all the attention and resources on making our planet the utopia it could and should be.”
