“I was going to a couple of times but chickened out. I was also going to go see Kirk’s parents and tell them how sorry I was, but I never got the chance.”
“Why not?” Vicki said.
“They all disappeared about two weeks later. A lot of my friends I hung out with were gone. Some of the goths. A bunch of the drama kids. There wasn’t a group that had been at that funeral that didn’t lose somebody. There were all kinds of theories about what had happened— from space aliens to some kind of chemical reaction—but I knew as soon as I went back to school and saw all those people gone that it was supernatural. God had come back for his own, and I was left behind.”
“What did you do?” Vicki said.
“I went back to the church. The youth guy had a bunch of Bibles and some stuff to read. I took a Bible and some of the papers and showed them to my mom. She was the first to pray, and then I did.” Howard looked around the rooftop and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know I haven’t been a very good believer like you guys, but I really want to be.”
“It’s not about being good,” Judd said. “If we all had to live perfectly after God forgave us, we’d be in deep trouble.”
“But I’ve done just about everything I could to make my mom and the others who helped us miserable.”
“God wants to change you from the inside out,” Vicki said, “but you have to let him.”
“I want that… .”
“Then tell him,” Vicki said. “Pray right now and tell God you’re giving him the rest of your life to use however he wants. Thank him for saving you and making you a believer, and ask him to help you grow. He’ll do it. He really will.”
Howard bowed his head, and Judd saw his lips moving.
A siren wailed and all three jumped. They crouched beneath the concrete wall and listened as a GC squad car pulled into the airport. The swirling lights cast eerie shadows through the hovering smoke. When Judd heard voices, he crawled to the edge and peeked over. A uniformed GC officer spoke with a man at the airport entrance. Their voices carried across the parking lot.
“He came inside looking for something to eat, I guess, but all he found was a few bottles of water,” the man said.
“And he walked back outside?”
“I think so. I wasn’t about to follow into the sunshine, but it didn’t seem to bother him.”
“How long after the plane took off?” the officer said.
“About a half hour. I heard a rattle and bang, like he was driving an old Volkswagen. You can’t miss those engines, the way they whistle and ping—”
“Did you hear him drive off?” the officer interrupted.
“Come to think of it, I didn’t. You suppose those were Judah-ites? I heard they weren’t affected by the sun like we are.”
“Don’t believe everything you hear, old-timer. I’m going to take a look around. If you help, I’ll make sure you get some food.”
“Thank you. I’ve got some stashed away in the freezer. It’s not that cold in there since the power’s been off. But I wouldn’t mind helping you look.”
Judd slid back down. “Keep quiet. No movement. Now would be a good time to think of a better hiding place.”
“What time does the sun come up here?” Vicki whispered.
“A little after seven, I think,” Howard said.
It was 2:15 A.M. when the older man discovered the Beetle hidden below them. Judd moved to the wall and listened as the GC officer searched it. He kicked himself for leaving the guns in the backseat.
“Why would they leave a car out here where it would burn in the morning?” the man said.
“Maybe they’re coming back before sunup. You stay with the car. I’ll search the garage.”
Judd hurried back to Vicki and Howard. “Officer’s headed our way.”
Howard pointed to a steel ladder that hung over the side of the concrete wall. It was on the opposite side from the Beetle. “When the guy comes up, we can just hop over and stay until he leaves.”
“We’d have to time it so we don’t go over until he’s reached the top floor,” Vicki said.
Judd nodded. “Good. You two stay by the ladder, and I’ll crack the door and watch. When I wave, go over and I’ll join you.”
Vicki and Howard tiptoed to the other side of the roof. Judd propped the door open with a broken piece of concrete and strained to hear any footsteps. His heart beat faster, and he tried to take a deep breath. There was no room for panic now.
Judd couldn’t believe the man had seen him in the airport, and he was frustrated they had stayed in the garage. There were a hundred other places in the blocks surrounding the airport that would have made much better hiding places.
Judd glanced at his watch—2:47. Stars shone clear in the sky, and he remembered Ryan Fogarty’s favorite bedtime song: “Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are… .
”
Footsteps on the stairs. Judd moved slightly for a better view and heard a door below open and close. If he was right, the officer was on the third floor, one floor below them. It would take the man five minutes to go through the debris and head for the roof.
At 3:04 a door clattered below him and Judd stood. A flashlight beam darted back and forth on the wall below as the officer trudged up the last flight of stairs. Judd waved wildly at Vicki and Howard and flew across the garage roof to join them. They were over the edge and hanging onto the ladder when Judd scampered over the side. He was just below the top of the wall when the door banged open. Judd sighed and felt something tap his foot.
“Should we go to the third floor?” Howard whispered.
Judd shook his head and mouthed, “Stay here.”
Judd listened to the officer and watched for the flashlight beam to come closer.
Suddenly, the man shouted, “He’s been up here. I found the empty water bottles and some food wrappers.”
“Just one of them or are there more?” the man at the Beetle yelled.
“Can’t tell. But the door was propped open. They might still be around somewhere. I’m coming down.”
The door hinges creaked as the officer swung it open. Judd smiled. Only four more hours and the sun would be up. A squeal pierced the night, and Judd’s heart sank.
His cell phone!
44
JUDD turned off his cell phone and motioned for Vicki and Howard to climb down. The officer rushed toward them above while Judd quickly slid down the ladder and hopped onto the third-floor wall. Vicki and Howard were already running for the stairwell door on the other side of the building.
“They’re on the third floor!” the officer yelled, out of breath. “Don’t let them get the car!”
Judd raced to catch up as Vicki and Howard ran down the stairs. When Judd hit the door, the officer was still lumbering overhead.
Howard put both hands on the rails and slid down. Vicki took two steps at a time, and Judd caught up to her easily. They were steps away from the second-floor door when the officer burst into the stairwell shouting for them to stop.
“Where now?” Howard called from below.
“Keep going,” Judd said. “I don’t think the guy outside is armed. And stay close to the wall in case—”
A shot pinged in the stairwell. Vicki screamed, and Judd grabbed her hand as they sprinted down the last flight of stairs. They joined Howard outside and were confronted by the older man holding a metal pole.
“Stop right there!” the man yelled.
Judd pulled Howard to the door. “Jam your foot here and don’t let the officer out.” Vicki joined him and put her foot against the metal door.
“I’m warning you!” the man said. “Don’t come any closer.”
Judd had played enough football to know how to make himself look menacing to quarterbacks on the other side of the line. He gritted his teeth and lowered his shoulder. The older man dropped the pole, turned, and ran toward the terminal entrance, just as Judd heard a loud thump at the door behind him.
&n
bsp; “What if he shoots?” Vicki said.
“The bullet can’t go through—”
Bang!
A one-inch hole appeared in the door and missed Howard by less than a foot.
“Don’t make me kill you. Get away from the door!”
Judd picked up the pole and raced forward.
“I’m going to give you one more chance,” the officer yelled. “Now stand aside!”
Judd rammed the pole through the door handle and all the way to the other side. He pulled Vicki and Howard away as the officer threw his weight against the door again. It opened a few inches, but no farther.
“Head for the car,” Judd hollered, pulling the keys out.
Judd jumped in the driver’s side, and the car started with a rumble and clatter. Vicki yelled a warning from the backseat. The officer was aiming at them through metal bars inside the garage. Judd swerved and avoided the first shot. He yelled at Vicki and Howard to get down right before the next shot shattered the back window.
Judd floored the accelerator and pulled away. Unless the officer was a great shot, he’d never hit them, and he didn’t. But as they raced out of the airport road, Judd noticed swirling lights.
“We’ve got a head start, but not much of one,” Judd said. “Howard, any ideas on where we should go?”
The VW chugged along as Howard directed Judd through a maze of roads near burned-out buildings. Judd kept his lights off, driving by moonlight and the glow of fires.
“Take a left here,” Howard said, and Judd turned into a skate park.
“This is too out in the open,” Judd said. “We need to—”
“Go over the curb and down that little hill,” Howard said.
“Hang on,” Judd said.
They bounced over the curb and raced down an incline, stopping near a drainage pipe twice the size of the car. He pulled in and turned off the motor.
“We used to come down here when one of us was in trouble,” Howard said. “You can’t see it, but the opening goes all the way to the other side of the road.”
“This is perfect,” Vicki said.
“Yeah, unless somebody heard us and reports us to the GC,” Judd said.
When a vehicle passed overhead, Judd pulled out his phone and turned it on. A call had come from Westin, so Judd dialed him back and explained what had happened. Westin said he had felt guilty for taking off without him. “Where are you now?” Judd said.
“We made it to Kansas before we lost the sun,” Westin said. “Couldn’t risk the Wisconsin trip because we were so late. I have some friends here who live close to an old airport. They took us all in. What about Howard?”
Judd gave Westin the good news, and Howard got on the phone and spoke briefly with his mother. He seemed moved by his mom’s voice.
“I hope nothing bad happens to these two because of me,” Howard said. “All they were trying to do was save me.”
Westin told Judd he would fly to the airport with Howard’s mother at noon the next day.
“What about the people we were going to take to Wisconsin?” Judd said.
“Change of plans. There’s a flight coming from Wyoming in a few hours. These people will go there, while you take Howard and his mom to Wisconsin.”
“I have to know, is this going to affect the way the Trib Force looks at me?”
Westin paused. “I told the Trib Force this was my idea.”
“But that’s not true—”
“Right. So kick me out of the choir. Steele chewed me out, said I was playing hot dog with people’s lives, and I apologized.”
“But this wasn’t your fault. I was the one—”
“Judd, I took the blame. Maybe I shouldn’t have, but I did. You’re square with them, okay? See you at noon.”
Vicki never felt so grateful to see the sun rise the next morning. Instead of being chased like animals, they were free to roam the neighborhoods and head back to the airport.
In a gesture of goodwill, Howard left food in front of the freezer for the old man. “We must have scared him to death last night. Least we can do is give him something to eat.”
The flight to Wisconsin went as planned. Howard’s mother couldn’t stop thanking Judd and Vicki for their help and said she would make it up to them somehow.
The group in Wisconsin welcomed the two newcomers with open arms. Howard seemed most pleased to meet Zeke, who looked nothing like what he expected in an “assistant pastor.”
The Tribulation Force continued moving people and supplies around the country and the world, though the Global Community had tried to adapt. News from Oregon disturbed Vicki and the others when they found out about a new GC plan that affected believers.
“The GC moved into the lava tubes in Oregon,” Mark said a few days after Judd and Vicki returned.
“Lava tubes?” Charlie said.
“They’re natural rock formations made by volcanoes,” Mark said. “Miles of tunnels believers have been using since we were forced to go underground. Once the plague of heat hit, GC survivors decided to move into them at night because the temperature is so cool during the day. They surprised some believers, and a bunch of them were executed.”
“Why couldn’t someone have helped?” Vicki said.
“These believers were pretty cut off from anyone outside. They were living on their own.”
Other members of the Tribulation Force passed along stories of believers eluding the GC in China, the Philippines, Australia, and other locations. The 144,000 evangelists continued their preaching, and many undecided became believers. This encouraged the Wisconsin group, knowing that there were still some without Carpathia’s mark, but everyone knew the numbers were dwindling.
Though Vicki didn’t like to be separated from Judd, they each took separate trips as requested by the Tribulation Force to help believers with supplies, food, and new places to live. In some cases, Vicki was asked to go because she had been the main contact for younger believers who had seen her at one of the stadium events. At other locations, the Trib Force needed help loading and unloading materials, and Judd volunteered. Most of these were daylong flights or drives, so they were back with each other the next day.
As time went on, Vicki wondered what Judd was thinking about their relationship. They had become more serious, and everyone in the Wisconsin group wondered if Judd would propose. “I’m content however things work out,” Vicki told her friends, “but I’ll admit I wouldn’t mind being Mrs. Judd Thompson.”
Judd agonized over the marriage question. He knew Vicki was the one for him, if he did decide to get married, but things seemed to be going so well that he didn’t want to mess up their friendship. Judd pored over the Scriptures and asked people’s advice.
Zeke was a big help, saying that if God planted a desire for marriage, there wasn’t anything to hold him back. “You have to ask yourself—are you ready to love another human being the way God loves you?”
On a trip to Tennessee to help out a group that had befriended him, Judd opened the Bible to the passage in 1 Corinthians, chapter 13. Known as the love chapter, Judd read the verses, then wrote a segment of the passage in his own words.
Love is so patient and kind that others can see it, taste it, and smell it. Love isn’t jealous when someone else succeeds, isn’t rude, doesn’t boast, and certainly isn’t prideful. Love doesn’t want things a certain way and doesn’t get irritated over little things. Love doesn’t keep a scorecard. When a wrong is committed, a person who loves doesn’t hold that over the other person’s head. A person who loves isn’t glad about people who are treated unfairly, but is glad when the truth is seen and welcomed. Love simply does not give up, it never loses faith or hope, and in every circumstance, no matter what that circumstance is, love keeps on going.
Judd studied the list and shook his head. Love is pretty tough to accomplish, he thought. As he looked over his words and the other parts of the passage, he was struck by how many of these verses Vicki lived. She was never jealous of
anyone who succeeded, was never proud or boastful about her accomplishments, and seemed to always put others ahead of herself. Even when Judd was asked to go on trips for the Trib Force, she seemed genuinely excited for his opportunities.
Though it scared him, it was on that flight that Judd finally made up his mind to ask Vicki the most important question of his life. “Perfect love expels all fear,” Judd thought. Zeke loved quoting that verse. Maybe he was right.
Vicki was excited when Judd asked her to help him deliver supplies to a Wisconsin group she had never heard of. Judd said they would be gone a few hours and that she might want to bring some food along, so she packed a lunch and they set out after ten that morning.
They chatted about the way things were going with the group, how much help Charlie had been, and how glad they were that he had become part of the group. Vicki had received an e-mail from Wanda that morning reporting good progress by Cheryl.
“You think she’ll ever come back?” Judd said.
“Wanda doesn’t think it’s a good idea yet, but if Cheryl keeps working on getting healthy—” Vicki pointed to her head—“I wouldn’t be surprised to see her again.”
“Ryan Victor sure is full of spunk,” Judd said.
Vicki laughed and repeated a story about the boy Josey had told her the day before. Ryan had truly been the bright spot in their lives the past two years.
Vicki noticed a cloud of dust in one of the mirrors and turned. “Do you see that?”
Judd glanced back. “Looks like smoke from a building.”
“No, it came from beside the road, like someone just pulled out.” Vicki peered through the back windshield and yelped. “Judd, there’s a car coming this way.”
“Well, we don’t have anything to worry about, right? It has to be a believer or the car would be burning up by now.”
“I suppose you’re right, but what if the plague’s lifted? Or maybe the GC has figured out a way to overcome the effects—”
“I see lights on top of that car,” Judd interrupted.
“Step on it. We can lose whoever it is in this Humvee.”
Judd sped up, but the car gained on them. Vicki’s heart beat faster and faster.
Hunted Page 31
