“You should tell her yourself,” Tom said. “Write her or call her.”
“I will. And I want you to know I’m going to get better. I’ve never been through anything like this before.”
Tom opened the door and carried Ryan outside. Clemson put a hand on Cheryl’s shoulder and smiled, showing his yellow teeth. “I don’t excuse your behavior, but the truth is, I wouldn’t have found God’s peace if you all hadn’t driven through our town. So I thank you for your part in that.”
Cheryl nodded and hugged everyone. “I don’t know what I would have done without you,” she whispered in Vicki’s ear.
“I look forward to having you back, but don’t rush it. Talk this through with Wanda. Let God work.”
The drive back to the campground went quickly in the daylight. Vicki wondered how many people had died in the houses that smoldered on hillsides. But she couldn’t contain her excitement over Judd. She looked out the window and smiled for no reason. Marshall caught her and asked why she was so happy, but she turned and tickled Ryan in his car seat without answering.
Along with the good feelings, Vicki couldn’t help being nervous. What if she and Judd didn’t get along? Their friendship had grown, but what if things changed when they were face-to-face?
Before the disappearances, the way a guy looked had been so important to her. Whether a guy looked “hot” was the only test Vicki had used to decide whether to go out with him. Now she couldn’t imagine being interested in anyone who didn’t share her faith in God and want to reach out to others. She was sure there was nothing that would keep her from liking Judd.
Judd and Lionel made it safely to the midway point of their trip by early afternoon and thought about continuing but decided to play it safe. They found the group they had contacted packed into the basement of an old library and running out of food. Judd and Lionel took the food they needed from the Humvee for the rest of their trip and gave the rest to the group.
“We e-mailed the Trib Force about supplies, but they don’t know when they’ll be able to get here,” the leader said.
“I’m hoping to help move supplies around,” Judd said. “I’ll put in a word about your situation.”
If Judd had trouble sleeping the night before, this night was a disaster. One of the younger members argued with the leader, and another coughed most of the night. Judd and Lionel slept on the floor, which was a thin strip of carpet over a slab of concrete. Judd walked the floor above them through the early morning hours, looking out at the charred remains of cars, trucks, and trees.
Before they left the next morning, Judd warned the leader about GC movement in the area. “I didn’t see squad cars, but people were definitely out last night. When they see this library still standing, they may try to take possession of it, so be careful.”
The leader thanked them for the food and wished them well on the remainder of their trip. Lionel pulled out the tattered map they had started with in South Carolina so long ago and traced his finger along the route they had carefully chosen for this final leg of the trip. It ran a hundred miles south of Chicago so they wouldn’t have to deal with the new GC buildup outside the nuked city.
Judd had to keep from driving too fast on the sweltering roadway. He set the cruise control and let the Humvee keep speed until he came to a burning wreck or a melted bridge. Twice they were forced to drive through a small stream or find another route.
Finally, they reached the road to the campground Vicki had described.
Lionel folded the map and put it in his pocket. “How do you feel?”
Judd took a breath. “Remember when those GC guys were looking for us in Israel? It’s like my heart’s beating out of my chest.”
“Settle down, big boy. It’s just another stop on our way to the Glorious Appearing, right?”
“Maybe it is for you,” Judd said. He let off on the gas pedal and slowed. “I want to remember this last part of the drive.”
38
LIONEL felt a strange mix of emotions as he got out of the Humvee and walked toward the campground. A white van and another car were parked nearby, and he spotted a child’s toy in the grass and picked it up.
Lionel had dreamed of this moment from the first time he suggested he and Judd return home. Through trips to New Babylon, France, Petra, and their ordeal in South Carolina, Lionel never let go of the dream of being back with his friends.
But how will they react to my missing arm? The thought sent a shiver through him and Lionel turned. Judd was still in the car, his hands on the steering wheel, peering into the afternoon sunlight. Lionel shook off the emotion and walked toward the first cabin.
The door opened and Conrad flew out, racing to his friend and embracing him. Lionel hugged him tightly and wept. Darrion followed, then Shelly and Mark. The rest was a blur as familiar faces and people he’d never seen surrounded him.
“You wouldn’t believe how we’ve prayed for you,” an older woman said. “You look just like I thought you would.”
Lionel smiled and tried to speak.
“I’m Maggie,” the woman said. “Vicki and the others helped me get out of Des Plaines.”
A woman holding a child stepped forward, and Lionel handed her the toy. “Where is Vicki?”
Zeke stepped forward and grabbed Lionel’s hand. “Vicki and Janie have been down at Cheryl’s cabin fixing the place up. Down at the end.”
Lionel glanced back at the Humvee. Judd was still inside.
The emotion of seeing Lionel connect with his friends was too wonderful for Judd. Years ago, when Judd was a kid, he’d had relatives visit his family. At the end of the visit there were hugs and tears as Judd’s parents said good-bye. At that age, Judd couldn’t understand why older people cried so much.
Now, as he saw the friendships formed during the earth’s last days, he shook with emotion. These people had prayed for him, had faced death together, and had lost many friends. The gathering seemed like a breathtaking dream.
Vicki and Janie had worked on Cheryl’s old cabin since Vicki had returned from her trip. Food wrappers littered 382 the floor. Clothes were thrown about, and Cheryl’s cot hadn’t been made for weeks. Though Marshall had assigned cabins and put at least two people in each (he said the partner system was best), Cheryl had stayed alone, which was fine with everyone else. But Cheryl’s solitary life had come with a price. Vicki wondered what might have happened if the girl had roomed with someone who could have helped her think through the situation with Ryan and the Fogartys.
Janie had finished moving a bed into place when Vicki heard a commotion outside. Janie went to the window and noticed several people walking toward the cabin.
“Are they here?” Vicki said.
“Only one way to find out,” Janie said, then rushed out, the screen door banging behind her.
Vicki tried to move but couldn’t. “God,” she prayed, “you know how long we’ve prayed for Judd and Lionel to come back. You know all that’s happened, so before I even see them, I want to thank you for loving us and sending them back. Whatever happens between Judd and me, even if we just become friends, I pray you’d get the glory for it. Amen.”
The screen door opened, and Lionel walked inside. He looked older, his eyes somehow wiser. Vicki had first met Lionel when he was only thirteen. Now he was almost nineteen, and he had grown taller than Vicki by a few inches. She rushed to him and hugged him, forgetting about his arm injury.
“I’m not hurting you, am I?” Vicki said when she could speak.
Lionel smiled. “Nothing there to hurt.”
“Oh, Lionel, we’ve missed you so much. I thought you’d be gone a couple of weeks, maybe a month tops.”
“So did I. Guess things don’t always turn out the way you think they’re going to.”
Vicki glanced at the door, and Lionel stepped aside. “Were you looking for somebody else?”
Vicki smiled. “He’s with you, isn’t he?”
Lionel took her hand and pulled her toward
the door. “Come on.”
The first one to reach Judd after he stepped out of the car was Mark. There were no words, just hugs and slaps on the back. Judd and Mark had disagreed about a lot of things through the years, beginning with Mark’s involvement with the militia movement, but now all that seemed forgotten. They had both seen enough death and had been chased by the Global Community enough to know that any squabbles in the past were easily put aside.
“You don’t know how good it is to be back,” Judd said.
Zeke gave Judd a hug that nearly squeezed all the air from his lungs. “Looks like you got a few scratches during your travels.”
“You haven’t changed much, Zeke. Still have the tattoos.”
“I’m thinkin’ about gettin’ a new one here,” Zeke said, pointing to his right hand. “It’ll be a GC symbol with the words Carpathia stinks.”
“Judd!” Shelly screamed. Zeke and Mark made way for her as she embraced Judd.
“It’s a big family reunion,” Zeke said.
Judd studied the faces outside the cabins while he walked this gauntlet. He recognized Tom and Josey Fogarty and hugged them tightly.
“Vicki told me you’d finally believed,” Judd said to Tom.
“It took me a while to come around, but I finally realized the truth.”
Darrion pecked Judd on the shoulder. “Remember me?”
Judd couldn’t believe how much Darrion had changed. When he had first met her, she was just a kid. Now she was a young woman with long hair and a beautiful smile.
“Everybody’s changed so much—it’s hard to believe.”
“I think there’s somebody down there who wants to see you,” Darrion whispered. “She’s been really nervous.”
Judd watched as Lionel came out of a cabin pulling someone behind him.
Vicki stepped outside the cabin and saw the glow on the faces of those before her. Somehow Vicki felt she had seen this moment before or had dreamed it. At the top of the hill, a few yards from the main cabin, a young man moved slowly toward her.
Judd had never felt so focused. He knew everyone was watching, wondering what he would do, but he concentrated on the girl at the end of the path.
Vicki had changed since Judd had been gone, like the others, like he had. Her red hair was shorter, and Judd liked how it accented her face. She looked older, more mature.
On the drive to the airport, shortly after Judd and Vicki had first met in that cataclysmic moment after their families had disappeared, Judd hadn’t even considered Vicki as anything but a fellow traveler, a lost and lonely survivor. When everyone he loved was gone, his first instinct was to shut down and keep people at a distance so he wouldn’t be hurt even more.
The loss of Bruce Barnes had been another huge blow to Judd. But over the past two years, Judd had opened up to others in a way he had never done before. As he walked past this band of brothers and sisters, he wasn’t just returning to his friends—he was truly coming home.
The thought overwhelmed Judd the closer he got to Vicki. Could God have loved him so much to take him safely through the past years and bring him back to the person he loved most? Had his adventures, his fighting the Global Community all been part of a plan to draw him closer to the God who loved him?
Somewhere deep inside, the pride, self-reliance, lack of trust in others, the guarding of his heart, and even the focus on his own sins was breaking down. For so long Judd had tried to figure things out. He knew the Bible, how things would wind up when Christ came back, and how everyone should act and fit in with his views. But the more Judd had tried to control things and people, the worse he felt.
He was a few feet from Vicki when the emotion he was trying to control crashed. He had stayed in the car to compose himself, to keep himself guarded again, but the sight of that old dog Ryan Daley had brought home sent Judd over the edge. Phoenix bounded past Vicki and ran toward Judd, his tail wagging, barking with delight. Judd fell to his knees and put his hands on the ground, tears streaming.
At first Vicki thought Judd had fallen, then realized he was overcome. When Phoenix jumped up and licked his face, Vicki couldn’t tell if Judd was laughing or crying.
She knelt and put an arm around Judd’s shoulder and the other around Phoenix. Everything else in the world faded—the people around her, the hot sun, all the death and destruction, the Global Community.
Judd whispered something through his tears—she could tell they were tears now. “What did you say?” she said.
“I’m so sorry, Vicki. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay, Judd. You’re back. What do you have to be sorry about?”
“For Phoenix. For Ryan. For the way I’ve been.”
Vicki smiled and started to make Judd feel better, but then she realized that God was doing something. Here. Now. God was burrowing into Judd’s soul, working in a way she had seen only when a person came to faith in God. To others it probably seemed like Judd was happy to see Vicki, but she sensed something more.
Vicki placed both arms around Judd’s neck and whispered a prayer. “Oh, Father, you’re so good to us. You’ve brought my friend back. Thank you.”
Judd looked at Vicki, and she handed him a tissue. His face was shadowed by a couple days’ growth of beard. He had aged beyond his twenty-one years. Vicki looked at the others gathered around. Josey Fogarty smiled and cradled Ryan tightly in her arms. Zeke had his hand over his mouth, studying the scene. Darrion and Janie and Shelly hugged each other and cried. They had been such good friends for Vicki.
“I’m through with just surviving,” Judd choked. “I want to live. Do you think I can change?”
“I think you already have.”
39
JUDD had never experienced a celebration like the one that evening in Wisconsin. He had been to birthday parties, anniversaries, and victory celebrations, but they didn’t compare with the joy in the main cabin.
Zeke pulled out a boxful of different juices that no one knew he had. “I was waiting for the right time and place, and this is it!”
Josey Fogarty had baked several cakes, which she said was therapy for her. “I hated waiting for word about Ryan, so while I prayed I baked.”
“You could have saved the oven and just stuck the cake outside,” Zeke laughed.
Ryan couldn’t take his eyes off Lionel. He was fascinated with Lionel’s skin color and the fact that one of his sleeves was empty. Lionel seemed to take the attention in stride and let Ryan see the way his arm had healed.
Vicki left Judd to talk with Josey. Judd assumed it was to explain what had happened with Cheryl the day before.
After everyone had eaten, Judd asked Vicki if she would like to take a walk before the sun went down.
Zeke stepped in front of Judd, blocking the door. “As Vicki’s substitute dad, I’m going to have to ask your intentions.”
People snickered.
Judd planted his feet and took a breath. “Sir, I’m here to renew an old friendship, if that’s okay with you.”
Zeke looked at Vicki. “Are you open to this young man renewing your acquaintance?”
“I am.”
“Then go on, but have her back by dark.” Zeke leaned forward. “I’m serious about that last part. We’ve been doing a lot of moving around. I don’t want any surprise visits from the GC in the middle of the night.”
Vicki led the way, showing Judd each of the cabins and telling him who lived where. She came to Zeke’s workshop, which no one visited anymore. “Z’s really excited about what he’s been working on for Lionel. After the people stopped coming for fake IDs and cosmetic work, he started developing it.”
When they had seen all the cabins, Vicki led Judd through the woods a short distance to a knoll overlooking the camp and the surrounding countryside. It seemed like years since Judd had been outside in daylight and he loved it, even if the devastating fires still raged. Smoke hovered over the valley, and in the distance Judd saw houses and farms ablaze.
The fi
re hadn’t touched the woods surrounding the camp, and Judd was amazed. Like the other plagues, this could only be explained by the awesome power of God.
Judd and Vicki sat on a tree stump, side by side, and looked at the scene.
“This world is on its last legs,” Vicki said.
“I can’t wait to see what the new one’s going to look like.” Judd shifted nervously. “That wasn’t the kind of entrance I’d hoped to make earlier. I had planned a private kind of thing, sneaking up on you and seeing if you’d recognize me.”
“You had a lot of time to plan it out,” Vicki said.
“I didn’t think there would be so many people.”
“It was a wonderful way to return.”
“Zeke said I really lost it, and I guess I did.”
“It’s funny how people react to emotion. A lot of people are really uncomfortable, but I don’t think you should ever be sorry about that. It was so genuine. I could tell God was doing something special in your heart.”
“I used to sit in church and watch people go forward at the end of the service and try to figure out how they got the guts to do it. It seemed so humiliating to get up there in front of all those people, sometimes crying, other times just standing there. But when I saw you and Phoenix, I finally realized what a jerk I’ve been. I’ve seen it before, but it was like God showing me wave after wave of truth. I don’t feel like a very worthy candidate to be your friend, let alone be …”
“What?” Vicki said.
“You know … more than that.”
Vicki took Judd’s hand and squeezed it. “I know we only have a little more than a year left before the Glorious Appearing, but I’d like to take this slow. Get to know each other better. There are things I need to tell you and things I need to hear from you.”
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