The Camouflaged Cross: Tales Of Christian Preppers In The End Times (Just Run Book 1) (3 page)

“Still, that was pretty strange.”

“Very strange. Meanwhile, a little over a month ago I headed south on a business trip. I lined up about twenty-five dentist office visits to talk about the company’s new line. It was a pretty long trip, but the buying had slowed down and I felt I had to do it. The dentists I visited kept telling me ‘Not now. We might expand when things settle down a little.’ All I knew was that there was some giant peace conference going on in Jerusalem. I guess the dentists and their office managers were more aware of what was going on in the world than I was.”

“Then what happened?”

“Well, without a single sale – not a single one! -- I checked back at the corporate office and they just told me to end the trip; just come back. And on the long drive home, I started looking for local Christian radio stations to listen to. I always do that when I go on a road trip. These stations were totally normal during the trip down, but on my way back… I started noticing that several of them were playing some strange songs, and repeating them, like on an endless loop. Just like our local station, K-Heaven, was supposed to do when Jesse and the others felt that it was time to drop everything and come up here.”

“What do you mean by strange songs?”

“Well, I knew of the usual Christian radio stations that would play worship songs, by groups like Casting Crowns or Steven Curtis Chapman, or replay a sermon or something. But they were playing songs like the old Rolling Stones song, ‘Gimme Shelter,’ and it was on an endless loop. The song would just keep playing over and over. Like someone in charge at that station had just turned it on, pushed some buttons at the station to just keep playing that same song, and the people working there just left. Some other Christian radio stations played songs like ‘Run Away’ by Real McCoy, that bathroom song, and --”

“Wait, did you say ‘bathroom song?’”

“Well that’s what I call it. It’s the Credence Clearwater song, ‘There’s A Bad Moon Rising.’ The words of the song sound like someone is saying that there is a ‘bathroom on the right.’ You know, one of those songs with lyrics that everyone mistakes for something totally silly.”

“That is pretty silly.”

“It’s a song from the 60’s, but a friend of mine saw the lead singer from Credence in a concert of his own a few years ago. True story: during a break in the concert, someone asked the singer where the bathroom was, and he said ‘Oh, it’s on the right.’”

“Really? That’s pretty funny. You’d think he would get mad at a disaster song being morphed into a song about, you know, the location of a bathroom. So what about the other Christian radio stations you heard? What were they playing?”

“Well, not all Christian radio stations, but I’d say almost half of them were playing these strange songs on endless loops. It got to be kind of a game to look around the radio dial, where I knew Christian radio stations were, to see if any were playing songs that were bizarre. For example, instead of the latest Toby Mac song, one radio station played the David Bowie song ‘This Is Not America’ on an endless loop. Another station was scheduled to replay a Voddie Baucham sermon at a certain time, and in fact I was looking forward to it. Instead, when I turned to that station, all I heard was the old Pink Floyd song ‘Run Like Hell.’ Over and over.”

“Didn’t we have some agreement with our local station, K-Heaven, to do the same thing?”

“Well, yeah, but for some reason I just figured our group was the only one. I thought it was a secret. Several of us… not me, but others, had talked our local radio station into just playing the song, ‘We’ll Meet Again,’ when it was truly time to leave our houses and come here to the compound. That is what I was hearing all along my drive home on that trip. Apparently other Christian prepper groups in other areas had the same idea. Well, let’s face it: that is a pretty good way to get the word out to our people, that it is time to go.”

Sean looked confused. “I remember hearing that song. Where did it come from?”

“It was played at the end of the 1960’s movie,
Dr. Strangelove
.”

“Can’t say I have ever heard of that movie.”

“It was way before your time. Well, mine too. It was actually a dark comedy about nuclear bombs blowing up the world. At the end of the movie as the world gets totally nuked, the song that is played is ‘We’ll Meet Again.’ It wasn’t my first choice, but the local guys decided that would be a good endless loop song to play to notify everyone that it was time to leave and come up here.”

“The Matthew 24 call to ‘just run.’”

“Exactly. Don’t even get your coat, although I know a lot of coats made it up here. Maybe the ‘don’t even get your coat’ language in Matthew 24 was a metaphor.”

“Well, I remember hearing that song. It’s actually a nice song. Our radio was playing in the kitchen. That song came on, and at the end of the song it would start again. And then again. I thought something was wrong at the radio station. My dad walked into the kitchen, and when he heard the song, he just grew pale. I mean, he actually looked like he was in shock. He made sure that it was K-Heaven playing it, and then he looked really nervous. He called my mom in, and they hugged each other, then they sat down on the floor in the kitchen. Just listening. My mom started to cry a little. I asked them if they were OK, and they said yes and just sat there for a while. Just listening. They pulled out a Bible and read some. Not saying a word. They wouldn’t even sit in chairs. They just sat on the floor there. Sitting on the floor -- that is what tipped me off that something big was going on.”

“What did your family do next?”

“I’d say they just sat there and listened to the song play about seven or eight times, while they read the Bible. Then they got up and started packing our Jeep. They got my sister and then we drove here. Not much talking on the drive up here either. It was a really strange day. Once we were out of town they told my sister and me what was up. They told us that we were moving up here. For good.”

“Yes. That song was the signal for local Christian prepper groups that people who were paying attention, unlike me, had decided that the world had reached the point of no return. The Abomination. Time to pack up and leave, and come to the compound here. We all thought we were being clever but apparently several other Christian prepper groups out there had the same idea. And I was hearing it all on my drive home on that business trip.”

“What other songs did you hear?”

“Some songs were more obvious than others. There was the old John Mellencamp song ‘Crumblin’ Down.’ Oh yes, I almost forgot. One station just had an air raid siren playing non-stop. Come to think of it, that was pretty obvious. And there was one song that, let’s face it, was really obvious: REM’s ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It.’ When we chose the song for our local station, well, I wasn’t there, but the idea was to have it a little concealed; not so obvious. We didn’t want to just come right out and say ‘Hey everyone, the End Times are here. We’re leaving now!’”

There was a pause. They both looked down onto the road outside. Sean said, “We might have another hour before our replacements come. What time do you have?”

“Oh, that’s another thing. I don’t have a watch anymore. I sold my watch during that drive home.”

“Why’d you do that?”

“Well, I mentioned I was driving home and hearing all this strange music, on endless loops. I was also starting to notice that whenever I came upon a gas station, there were really long lines. I mean, lines that went on and on. As far as you could see. As I got a little closer home, instead of lines at the gas stations I started noticing fires at the gas stations. Billowing smoke that I could see from miles away! And no firemen or police! Just a big fire, people driving away, sometimes fighting, and no firemen or cops. It was totally bizarre. I guess the refineries getting bombed meant that gasoline became pretty scarce, pretty quickly. There were many gas stations like that. You could look across the horizon and see many of these gas stations on fire, sending smoke up. Like a bunch of black fingers reaching into the sky.”

“Kind of like that one over there,” Sean said, and pointed off to the smoke far away to the east.

“Yes, but on my drive home there were many of them.”

“That sounds pretty scary. So how’d that cause you to sell your watch?”

“Well, I noticed my own gas supply was getting low. So I turned off the highway onto a pretty deserted road. Just taking a chance. And I found a small gas station that was closed, and a mobile home was right behind it. I figured that’s where the owners lived. I knocked on the door and asked for some gas. They said ‘No, get lost.’ So I offered them my Breitling watch for a fill-up of gas. Gloria paid $4,500 for that watch a few anniversaries ago, and I just handed it over for a tank full of gas.”

“At least you got home.”

“Yes. I made it home OK. And I keep looking over at my wrist to see the time, but my watch is gone. Oh well, I can always ask the time on these walkie-talkies.”

****

Some trucks could be heard driving nearby, and they were getting closer. Sean and David looked down onto the road. David said, “These might be some late stragglers, come to join the group.”

A tan Humvee rounded the corner and came into view. A black flag with white Arabic writing on it was flying from behind the driver’s door.

“Sean, can you please turn off the walkie-talkie? You know how those things make that chirping noise.”

“OK, sure.”

Two pick-up trucks followed the Humvee around the curve, so that all three trucks were in view. The second pick-up truck had six people in the back of the truck. It looked as if the people were all holding their hands behind their backs.

“What do we have here?” Sean whispered.

“Shh. This can’t be good,” David whispered.

The three trucks stopped at the roadblock, startling some black vultures there that quickly flew away. The driver of the Humvee got out. He was a middle-eastern guy with black hair and a beard. He wore green fatigues and a white and black bandana around his neck. He walked back to the driver of the second pick-up truck. They talked briefly. Then he went to the third truck and talked to the driver there. He then walked back to the Humvee and looked at the people in the back of the second pick-up truck as he walked by. He looked up into the hills before he got back into the Humvee.

“Who is that?” Sean whispered.

“No idea.”

All three trucks backed out of the road and out of sight, then returned in reverse, backing up to the roadblock. The trucks stopped at an angle, leaving some open space between the roadblock and the trucks. The drivers of the trucks got out. All five appeared to be middle-eastern men, dressed in dark green military clothing, and holding machine guns.

“This is definitely not good,” David whispered to Sean.

The Humvee driver looked up into the hills above the roadblock, then talked with the others a little. Two of the men made small fanning gestures with their hands, and talked about the bad smell at the roadblock. The rest looked into the hills beyond the roadblock, scanning as if to see if anyone was watching among the trees.

Sean ducked below the wall of their hillside hideout. “Remember they can’t see us here,” David whispered to Sean.

The driver of the Humvee went back to the Humvee and grabbed a megaphone that was on the front seat, and walked back to the front of the Humvee. He turned it on and a deafening ‘beep’ could be heard. He turned a nob on the side of the megaphone and the beeping stopped.

He looked up the hills beyond the roadblock. “Attention anyone up there, who may be watching us,” he spoke into the megaphone in English with an Arabic accent. “Let me have your attention please.”

“We have brought some of your neighbors here,” he nodded towards the direction of the people sitting in the back of the second pick-up truck. “We brought some of your neighbors here so that they can take the Mark of Allegiance, which is now required by law. We will show you how simple and painless it is. It really is no big deal. You will see for yourself.”

Two of the men went to the back of the Humvee and opened the back storage compartment, then removed a device that had a chin-rest and looked like an eye-testing machine, and a flat glass part that was to the right. They installed it onto the back of the Humvee.

Another man went to the back of the second pick-up truck and lowered the tail gate. The six people slid off the back of the pick-up truck. Their hands were tied behind their backs with black zip ties. They were directed to the back of the Humvee.