Fleataxi
Deceased
Author's Note: The following story is Fiction and loosely based on Revelation. Any deviation from Scripture is my fault.
Paul and Nancy Connors lived in the City of Orange, CA. Their two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne, went to the local schools and were active in Sports. Every Sunday they attended the Pentecostal Church of Orange, and their kids belonged to the Youth Group. Paul worked as a Machinist and his hobby was gunsmithing, which made him some money on the side customizing and fixing friends rifles. As a result, Paul had a large collection of guns, not all of which were legal in California. Paul wasn’t worried, a lot of his friends had guns that were “illegal” in California, and they didn’t think anything of it. After they had lived in their house for several years, they took out a home equity line of credit after the value of their house had risen 30% due to the rapidly rising housing prices. They contacted Rick’s remodeling company, and he quoted a fair price, so he was given the contract. Over the several months it took to remodel their house, Rick and Paul got to be friends. Over the years, Rick confided in Paul that he was a Christian and into Survivalism. It took Paul a while to come around to Rick’s thinking, since his church believed in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Rick convinced him he needed to prepare after telling him for the hundredth time that if Rick was wrong, and there was a Pre-Trib rapture, he got to go to Heaven with the rest of them, but if Paul were wrong, and they had to endure the Great Tribulation, or even a regular tribulation, and he wasn’t prepared, he could not only hurt himself, but his family, and might be tempted to take the Mark to feed his family.
As their friendship developed, Rick confided his preparations to Paul, and they started planning together. Rick had located a huge abandoned mine right outside of Eagle Mountain, CA on the eastern border of the Joshua Tree National Monument. Rick thought it was fitting that a bunch of Christians would hide from the Anti-Christ near Joshua Tree. The two of them spent at least 1 weekend a month making the old abandoned mine safe and secure, then storing everything they’d need to survive for 7 years in the mine. There were many Artesian springs running through several levels of the mine, and they attached a penstock and small waterwheel generator and a battery bank to each of them to make electricity 24 hours a day, and they stored the water in a huge cistern. They made enough electricity to not only pump the water up to the living levels, but to power the lights and charge batteries. Their septic system consisted of large pipes to route the sewage to a deep shaft in the lowest part of the mine that was capped with a metal cap to keep the smell out. When they dropped a rock down the shaft, it fell for way over a minute before they heard anything, and it was 10 feet in diameter. They guessed it was over 2,000 feet deep, and 10 feet in diameter, giving them 20,000 cubic feet to dispose of black water. Rick hoped the water would percolate out the bottom, or it could get really stinky in the mine with 7 years worth of sewage. All grey water was recycled and reused in the garden where possible.
Every time he remodeled a building, instead of throwing away the materials and fixtures, they used them to build livable quarters in the huge mine. They collected junk from construction sites all over Orange and Riverside counties. Paul was amazed at what people would throw away, and they soon had enough materials to build enough rooms in the mine to house both families, and at least a dozen refugees. They had the mine plumbed with cold water faucets since they hadn’t figured out how to heat the water without giving their position away to outside observers. Paul realized that even running cold water in the desert was a luxury. Over the years, they collected scrap wood, and enough wood stoves to heat the place, and ducted them into a common chimney when Rick climbed the mountain their mine was dug into, and found an abandoned shaft, which explained the excellent ventilation. Rick knew some tricks to disguise the wood smoke, so he was fairly confident they’d escape anything but a deliberate search. Some of the caverns were over 50 feet high, and the mine had at least 20 levels that they had explored. It had good air exchange and plenty of fresh air, even with the security door closed. They tested the air with carbide lamps first, then sophisticated air testing equipment when they seriously considered building a shelter there. Over the years they started moving supplies into the mine. Paul used money he had made from Gunsmithing, so Nancy didn’t mind what he spent it on. Rick was rolling in money, and supplied the bulk of their supplies.
6 years later, things started getting really bad in California. The people in the big cities got tired of Arnold, and elected someone who promised Prosperity, free healthcare, and lower taxes. Anyone who really cared could have realized that what he was proposing was impossible with California’s current financial problems. Arnold had tried to rein in the California Legislature, but they insisted on spending money like they had a printing press in the basement of the Capitol. The Liberals blamed Arnold for causing the very thing he was attempting to stop - financial meltdown, and trumpeted their new financial “Savior”. His program put unemployed teachers back to work, but he only delayed the inevitable crash of California’s economy. By now, things in the US had reached similar crisis levels, and the government was printing money to pay off the interest on the debt, otherwise known as monetizing the debt. This resulted in the unheard of action in the World Bank of reducing the US credit rating to the same level as Mexico. Investors, fearing a collapse, caused the collapse they were trying to avoid by selling everything they could that was tied to the Dollar.
While all this was happening, in Indonesia CNN reported the impact of a meteor and a local tsunami that killed most of the people in the area, and dead fish were washing up on the shore weeks later. Due to the US economic meltdown, no one paid attention to it after a couple of days. Weeks later, people noticed that the sun was dark during the day, but wrote it off as dirt thrown up by the meteor impact. Over the next couple of months, the news was reporting strange phenomena, but always there was a scientist or other “talking head” spokesperson available to explain the phenomena so no none realized that they were living in the start of the Great Tribulation. Next prominent citizens started disappearing, and police were unable to solve the disappearances. Finally members of Congress and the Senate started disappearing, and the President flew to an undisclosed location, and left FEMA in charge. Months later, William Clintoon was elected to the Secretary General of the UN to replace the Secretary General, who was missing and presumed dead. Within the week, he had met with the new Pope, and world leaders, and they agreed that drastic measures were needed to restore the world economy. Once the US economy started failing, suddenly the rest of the world realized they were dependent on the US for financial aid, purchasing their goods and services, and providing food and other goods.
Right at that point, California was starting to come unglued, so the first thing Governor Andrews did was get legislation passed confiscating all weapons to prevent lawlessness. Within weeks, most of the United States followed suit. FEMA and the ATF got into the ball game, and the nightly news featured the head of FEMA telling gun owners they had 30 days to turn in their guns or face the consequences. California went 1 step further, and made owning guns a “child endangerment” issue, giving the state the right to take your children if you didn’t surrender your guns.
Nancy had always been a Sheeple to the core, and Paul had never included her in his plans, figuring that if TSHTF, that he could just grab them, pack up and leave. After all, they had a secure retreat less than 100 miles away in the California Desert, stocked for 20 years worth of survival for Rick and Paul’s families. Several years ago, Rick and his family were killed in a private plane crash. Rick loved flying, and often rented a 4-seater Cessna to fly his family for a weekend in Vegas. The lawyer contacted Paul, and told him that Rick’s will left him the remodeling company. He handed Paul the keys to Rick’s business, and a bunch of letters. After the funeral, he settled down in a quiet space by himself, and read Rick’s letters. Besides the usual stuff, he told him were he had stashed over a dozen caches in and around Orange and Riverside counties, and the keys he needed to get to them. Following Rick’s instructions, he sold Rick’s house for 1.5 million dollars, and converted most of it to gold and silver, leaving enough in the bank to keep Nancy happy, who really appreciated the new Mustang he bought her.
After things started happening, Paul noticed that Nancy and the two girls had splitting headaches all day long, bags under their eyes, and they were always scratching bite marks on themselves. She saw the doctor, who prescribed large doses of Prozac and Valium to sleep, but nothing helped. Finally Paul was reading the Bible one night, and realized what was happening. Several people he knew who he thought were “Good Christians” were suffering, and a few people that he didn’t think were all that spectacular were symptom-free. He talked to one of them, and he explained that it appeared the world was in the midst of the Great Tribulation. Of course Paul laughed it off, until he went home that night, read Revelation for the first time in a long time, and prayed about it. Finally that night, he confronted Nancy with his thoughts.
“Paul, you’re NUTS - I’m as good as the next Christian at Orange Pentecostal Church - you should see some of those women there - call themselves Christians, yet they’ve been divorced and remarried. WE go to church each Sunday, and you tithe your 10% just like everyone else. Even Elizabeth and Anne are in the Youth Group.”
“Nancy, from what I read, it’s not what you do that gets you into heaven, matter of fact, you can’t earn your way into heaven from what I’ve read. It comes down to the saving grace of God. Have you ever surrendered your life to God? Really!”
“What a silly question, we were both baptized when we became members!”
“But did you repent of what you were doing before, and ask God’s forgiveness for your sins?”
“Why should I have to - God loves everyone! Now go to sleep, I’m tired!”
“Nancy, the reason you feel like you do is God’s giving a last warning to those who haven’t surrendered their lives to Christ to repent and accept his forgiveness!”
“Paul, you sound like those Fundamentalist Christians on TV. I’m OK, it’s just a headache, now go to sleep.”
Not willing to start a fight, Paul rolled over and dropped the matter, but his relationship with his wife was never the same. The media kept up the pressure to turn in their guns or risk losing their kids, and a week later, Nancy found a loaded 1911 in Paul’s drawer, and called the police to turn it in. Unknown to her, her call was forwarded to the local ATF office, who checked and found out that Paul had some guns he bought years ago, and never surrendered according to their paperwork. When they found out he was a machinist and gunsmith, they decided to make an example of him.
That night in a dream, Paul got a revelation that the ATF was coming to arrest him, and he must flee without his wife and kids, and head for the desert. He quietly slipped out of bed, got dressed in the bathroom, kissed the girls goodbye, and grabbed his go-bag and keys to his Jeep, and drove out the door 5 minutes before the ATF smashed in the front door, and brutally questioned Nancy and the Girls. They were beaten, tortured, burned with cigarettes, stripped naked, and cuffed, then dragged out in the street and thrown into a black unmarked van when they couldn’t produce the guns. Nancy was worried about Elizabeth and Anne, who were 16 and 14 at the time, since the leader had told Nancy she had until they got to the station to talk, or her girls would be taken from her, and one guy laughed and joked about sending them to a brothel. Nancy felt sick to her stomach - they were good citizens, good Christians, and they had never broken the law before. Why was this happening to her, and where was Paul?
Paul and Rick had hid their guns in remote caches once the crackdown on civilian gun ownership began. He drove the jeep to one of their caches at a self-service storage facility in Corona that Rick had rented in his business’s corporate name and paid for a year in advance with a company check. This was one of their smallest caches, and they had 4 of them situated within 25 miles of the City of Orange, so if he bugged out in any direction, he’d have a cache available. While he was kneeling down to open one of the small boxes he packed in there, Paul said a quick prayer for God’s mercy on his family.
His cache included an AK-47, 10 loaded 30 round magazines, and 2 loaded 75-round drum magazines, and a chest carrier for the magazines and a combat pack full of 7.62x39 ammo on stripper clips. Below that was a customer’s unregistered nickel-silver 1911 with 10 7-round magazines full of jhp ammo, and 500 rounds of stored ammo. Below that was a multi-fuel stove, and nested pots in a cooking kit. Finally he uncovered a 5-gallon sealed bucket of beans, and another of rice, along with a large bottle of Tabasco Sauce. He has 100 feet of snare wire to make snares to capture “mystery meat” to supplement his beans and rice. He loaded all this into the Jeep, and drove further into the desert.
After he got back on the freeway, he headed east towards San Bernardino, and merged onto 60E. When he reached the eastern edge of Moreno Valley, he pulled off the freeway again, located another storage facility, unlocked the door, and connected a small trailer with pre-positioned gear to the towing hitch of his Jeep, made sure all the connections were tight and the chains secured, and drove back out after closing the door. After about another 15 miles, he got into the left lane to merge onto I-10E toward Beaumont. From there he drove on through the night past Palm Springs, and once he got near Indio, he realized he needed to fill the tank, and all the Jerry cans on the trailer. He located an all-night gas station, filled up, washed the windows, then hit the road again.
Early the next morning, he arrived in Eagle Mountain, drove through the quiet neighborhood streets, and onto a 4x4 trail that wasn’t on many maps. He kept the speed down to minimize a dust trail, and for the benefit of the trailer. He drove up, around, and through the foothills to the concealed opening of an old abandoned mine that Rick had located. Paul said a quick prayer of thanksgiving for his friend, and mercy for his wife and children. He felt awful for leaving them, but was sure that it was the voice of the Lord, since he saw all of them dying in a bloody shoot-out or him escaping and later being reunited with his family in the dream. He was sure God was telling him if he stayed there, they’d all die, and since Nancy and the girls weren’t saved, they’d spend eternity in hell. His faith was strong enough to trust God, but his heart was breaking for them, because his imagination was running wild with what the ATF goons would do to his wife and children. Once he got out of the Jeep, he fell to his knees praying, then felt like he should open his Bible and read whatever page it fell open to. He’d never done this before, and felt silly, then realized that there was no one around to make him feel silly, so he opened his Bible, and it fell open to Proverbs Chapter 3.
He started reading:
1 My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands;
2 For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you.
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart,
4 And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
7 ¶ Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil.
8 It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.
9 Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the first fruits of all your increase;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.
11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor detest His correction;
12 For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
13 ¶ Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding;
14 For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, And her gain than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies, And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand, In her left hand riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her.
19 The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; By understanding He established the heavens;
20 By His knowledge the depths were broken up, And clouds drop down the dew.
21 ¶ My son, let them not depart from your eyes-Keep sound wisdom and discretion;
22 So they will be life to your soul And grace to your neck.
23 Then you will walk safely in your way, And your foot will not stumble.
24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid; Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.
25 Do not be afraid of sudden terror, Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes;
26 For the LORD will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.
27 ¶ Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in the power of your hand to do so.
28 Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it," When you have it with you.
29 Do not devise evil against your neighbor, For he dwells by you for safety's sake.
30 Do not strive with a man without cause, If he has done you no harm.
31 Do not envy the oppressor, And choose none of his ways;
32 For the perverse person is an abomination to the LORD, But His secret counsel is with the upright.
33 The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the home of the just.
34 Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble.
35 The wise shall inherit glory, But shame shall be the legacy of fools.
When he finished reading this, he fell to his knees weeping uncontrollably. He wept for his wife and daughters, and for his failures. Finally a sense of peace overcame him, and he gave praise to God for saving his life, and left his family in God’s care. He drove the Jeep further into the mine, secured the door, and started unpacking. This would be his new home for the next 7 years unless something happened.
Fleataxi
Route 666
by Fleataxi
Chapter 1
by Fleataxi
Chapter 1
Paul and Nancy Connors lived in the City of Orange, CA. Their two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne, went to the local schools and were active in Sports. Every Sunday they attended the Pentecostal Church of Orange, and their kids belonged to the Youth Group. Paul worked as a Machinist and his hobby was gunsmithing, which made him some money on the side customizing and fixing friends rifles. As a result, Paul had a large collection of guns, not all of which were legal in California. Paul wasn’t worried, a lot of his friends had guns that were “illegal” in California, and they didn’t think anything of it. After they had lived in their house for several years, they took out a home equity line of credit after the value of their house had risen 30% due to the rapidly rising housing prices. They contacted Rick’s remodeling company, and he quoted a fair price, so he was given the contract. Over the several months it took to remodel their house, Rick and Paul got to be friends. Over the years, Rick confided in Paul that he was a Christian and into Survivalism. It took Paul a while to come around to Rick’s thinking, since his church believed in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Rick convinced him he needed to prepare after telling him for the hundredth time that if Rick was wrong, and there was a Pre-Trib rapture, he got to go to Heaven with the rest of them, but if Paul were wrong, and they had to endure the Great Tribulation, or even a regular tribulation, and he wasn’t prepared, he could not only hurt himself, but his family, and might be tempted to take the Mark to feed his family.
As their friendship developed, Rick confided his preparations to Paul, and they started planning together. Rick had located a huge abandoned mine right outside of Eagle Mountain, CA on the eastern border of the Joshua Tree National Monument. Rick thought it was fitting that a bunch of Christians would hide from the Anti-Christ near Joshua Tree. The two of them spent at least 1 weekend a month making the old abandoned mine safe and secure, then storing everything they’d need to survive for 7 years in the mine. There were many Artesian springs running through several levels of the mine, and they attached a penstock and small waterwheel generator and a battery bank to each of them to make electricity 24 hours a day, and they stored the water in a huge cistern. They made enough electricity to not only pump the water up to the living levels, but to power the lights and charge batteries. Their septic system consisted of large pipes to route the sewage to a deep shaft in the lowest part of the mine that was capped with a metal cap to keep the smell out. When they dropped a rock down the shaft, it fell for way over a minute before they heard anything, and it was 10 feet in diameter. They guessed it was over 2,000 feet deep, and 10 feet in diameter, giving them 20,000 cubic feet to dispose of black water. Rick hoped the water would percolate out the bottom, or it could get really stinky in the mine with 7 years worth of sewage. All grey water was recycled and reused in the garden where possible.
Every time he remodeled a building, instead of throwing away the materials and fixtures, they used them to build livable quarters in the huge mine. They collected junk from construction sites all over Orange and Riverside counties. Paul was amazed at what people would throw away, and they soon had enough materials to build enough rooms in the mine to house both families, and at least a dozen refugees. They had the mine plumbed with cold water faucets since they hadn’t figured out how to heat the water without giving their position away to outside observers. Paul realized that even running cold water in the desert was a luxury. Over the years, they collected scrap wood, and enough wood stoves to heat the place, and ducted them into a common chimney when Rick climbed the mountain their mine was dug into, and found an abandoned shaft, which explained the excellent ventilation. Rick knew some tricks to disguise the wood smoke, so he was fairly confident they’d escape anything but a deliberate search. Some of the caverns were over 50 feet high, and the mine had at least 20 levels that they had explored. It had good air exchange and plenty of fresh air, even with the security door closed. They tested the air with carbide lamps first, then sophisticated air testing equipment when they seriously considered building a shelter there. Over the years they started moving supplies into the mine. Paul used money he had made from Gunsmithing, so Nancy didn’t mind what he spent it on. Rick was rolling in money, and supplied the bulk of their supplies.
6 years later, things started getting really bad in California. The people in the big cities got tired of Arnold, and elected someone who promised Prosperity, free healthcare, and lower taxes. Anyone who really cared could have realized that what he was proposing was impossible with California’s current financial problems. Arnold had tried to rein in the California Legislature, but they insisted on spending money like they had a printing press in the basement of the Capitol. The Liberals blamed Arnold for causing the very thing he was attempting to stop - financial meltdown, and trumpeted their new financial “Savior”. His program put unemployed teachers back to work, but he only delayed the inevitable crash of California’s economy. By now, things in the US had reached similar crisis levels, and the government was printing money to pay off the interest on the debt, otherwise known as monetizing the debt. This resulted in the unheard of action in the World Bank of reducing the US credit rating to the same level as Mexico. Investors, fearing a collapse, caused the collapse they were trying to avoid by selling everything they could that was tied to the Dollar.
While all this was happening, in Indonesia CNN reported the impact of a meteor and a local tsunami that killed most of the people in the area, and dead fish were washing up on the shore weeks later. Due to the US economic meltdown, no one paid attention to it after a couple of days. Weeks later, people noticed that the sun was dark during the day, but wrote it off as dirt thrown up by the meteor impact. Over the next couple of months, the news was reporting strange phenomena, but always there was a scientist or other “talking head” spokesperson available to explain the phenomena so no none realized that they were living in the start of the Great Tribulation. Next prominent citizens started disappearing, and police were unable to solve the disappearances. Finally members of Congress and the Senate started disappearing, and the President flew to an undisclosed location, and left FEMA in charge. Months later, William Clintoon was elected to the Secretary General of the UN to replace the Secretary General, who was missing and presumed dead. Within the week, he had met with the new Pope, and world leaders, and they agreed that drastic measures were needed to restore the world economy. Once the US economy started failing, suddenly the rest of the world realized they were dependent on the US for financial aid, purchasing their goods and services, and providing food and other goods.
Right at that point, California was starting to come unglued, so the first thing Governor Andrews did was get legislation passed confiscating all weapons to prevent lawlessness. Within weeks, most of the United States followed suit. FEMA and the ATF got into the ball game, and the nightly news featured the head of FEMA telling gun owners they had 30 days to turn in their guns or face the consequences. California went 1 step further, and made owning guns a “child endangerment” issue, giving the state the right to take your children if you didn’t surrender your guns.
Nancy had always been a Sheeple to the core, and Paul had never included her in his plans, figuring that if TSHTF, that he could just grab them, pack up and leave. After all, they had a secure retreat less than 100 miles away in the California Desert, stocked for 20 years worth of survival for Rick and Paul’s families. Several years ago, Rick and his family were killed in a private plane crash. Rick loved flying, and often rented a 4-seater Cessna to fly his family for a weekend in Vegas. The lawyer contacted Paul, and told him that Rick’s will left him the remodeling company. He handed Paul the keys to Rick’s business, and a bunch of letters. After the funeral, he settled down in a quiet space by himself, and read Rick’s letters. Besides the usual stuff, he told him were he had stashed over a dozen caches in and around Orange and Riverside counties, and the keys he needed to get to them. Following Rick’s instructions, he sold Rick’s house for 1.5 million dollars, and converted most of it to gold and silver, leaving enough in the bank to keep Nancy happy, who really appreciated the new Mustang he bought her.
After things started happening, Paul noticed that Nancy and the two girls had splitting headaches all day long, bags under their eyes, and they were always scratching bite marks on themselves. She saw the doctor, who prescribed large doses of Prozac and Valium to sleep, but nothing helped. Finally Paul was reading the Bible one night, and realized what was happening. Several people he knew who he thought were “Good Christians” were suffering, and a few people that he didn’t think were all that spectacular were symptom-free. He talked to one of them, and he explained that it appeared the world was in the midst of the Great Tribulation. Of course Paul laughed it off, until he went home that night, read Revelation for the first time in a long time, and prayed about it. Finally that night, he confronted Nancy with his thoughts.
“Paul, you’re NUTS - I’m as good as the next Christian at Orange Pentecostal Church - you should see some of those women there - call themselves Christians, yet they’ve been divorced and remarried. WE go to church each Sunday, and you tithe your 10% just like everyone else. Even Elizabeth and Anne are in the Youth Group.”
“Nancy, from what I read, it’s not what you do that gets you into heaven, matter of fact, you can’t earn your way into heaven from what I’ve read. It comes down to the saving grace of God. Have you ever surrendered your life to God? Really!”
“What a silly question, we were both baptized when we became members!”
“But did you repent of what you were doing before, and ask God’s forgiveness for your sins?”
“Why should I have to - God loves everyone! Now go to sleep, I’m tired!”
“Nancy, the reason you feel like you do is God’s giving a last warning to those who haven’t surrendered their lives to Christ to repent and accept his forgiveness!”
“Paul, you sound like those Fundamentalist Christians on TV. I’m OK, it’s just a headache, now go to sleep.”
Not willing to start a fight, Paul rolled over and dropped the matter, but his relationship with his wife was never the same. The media kept up the pressure to turn in their guns or risk losing their kids, and a week later, Nancy found a loaded 1911 in Paul’s drawer, and called the police to turn it in. Unknown to her, her call was forwarded to the local ATF office, who checked and found out that Paul had some guns he bought years ago, and never surrendered according to their paperwork. When they found out he was a machinist and gunsmith, they decided to make an example of him.
That night in a dream, Paul got a revelation that the ATF was coming to arrest him, and he must flee without his wife and kids, and head for the desert. He quietly slipped out of bed, got dressed in the bathroom, kissed the girls goodbye, and grabbed his go-bag and keys to his Jeep, and drove out the door 5 minutes before the ATF smashed in the front door, and brutally questioned Nancy and the Girls. They were beaten, tortured, burned with cigarettes, stripped naked, and cuffed, then dragged out in the street and thrown into a black unmarked van when they couldn’t produce the guns. Nancy was worried about Elizabeth and Anne, who were 16 and 14 at the time, since the leader had told Nancy she had until they got to the station to talk, or her girls would be taken from her, and one guy laughed and joked about sending them to a brothel. Nancy felt sick to her stomach - they were good citizens, good Christians, and they had never broken the law before. Why was this happening to her, and where was Paul?
Paul and Rick had hid their guns in remote caches once the crackdown on civilian gun ownership began. He drove the jeep to one of their caches at a self-service storage facility in Corona that Rick had rented in his business’s corporate name and paid for a year in advance with a company check. This was one of their smallest caches, and they had 4 of them situated within 25 miles of the City of Orange, so if he bugged out in any direction, he’d have a cache available. While he was kneeling down to open one of the small boxes he packed in there, Paul said a quick prayer for God’s mercy on his family.
His cache included an AK-47, 10 loaded 30 round magazines, and 2 loaded 75-round drum magazines, and a chest carrier for the magazines and a combat pack full of 7.62x39 ammo on stripper clips. Below that was a customer’s unregistered nickel-silver 1911 with 10 7-round magazines full of jhp ammo, and 500 rounds of stored ammo. Below that was a multi-fuel stove, and nested pots in a cooking kit. Finally he uncovered a 5-gallon sealed bucket of beans, and another of rice, along with a large bottle of Tabasco Sauce. He has 100 feet of snare wire to make snares to capture “mystery meat” to supplement his beans and rice. He loaded all this into the Jeep, and drove further into the desert.
After he got back on the freeway, he headed east towards San Bernardino, and merged onto 60E. When he reached the eastern edge of Moreno Valley, he pulled off the freeway again, located another storage facility, unlocked the door, and connected a small trailer with pre-positioned gear to the towing hitch of his Jeep, made sure all the connections were tight and the chains secured, and drove back out after closing the door. After about another 15 miles, he got into the left lane to merge onto I-10E toward Beaumont. From there he drove on through the night past Palm Springs, and once he got near Indio, he realized he needed to fill the tank, and all the Jerry cans on the trailer. He located an all-night gas station, filled up, washed the windows, then hit the road again.
Early the next morning, he arrived in Eagle Mountain, drove through the quiet neighborhood streets, and onto a 4x4 trail that wasn’t on many maps. He kept the speed down to minimize a dust trail, and for the benefit of the trailer. He drove up, around, and through the foothills to the concealed opening of an old abandoned mine that Rick had located. Paul said a quick prayer of thanksgiving for his friend, and mercy for his wife and children. He felt awful for leaving them, but was sure that it was the voice of the Lord, since he saw all of them dying in a bloody shoot-out or him escaping and later being reunited with his family in the dream. He was sure God was telling him if he stayed there, they’d all die, and since Nancy and the girls weren’t saved, they’d spend eternity in hell. His faith was strong enough to trust God, but his heart was breaking for them, because his imagination was running wild with what the ATF goons would do to his wife and children. Once he got out of the Jeep, he fell to his knees praying, then felt like he should open his Bible and read whatever page it fell open to. He’d never done this before, and felt silly, then realized that there was no one around to make him feel silly, so he opened his Bible, and it fell open to Proverbs Chapter 3.
He started reading:
1 My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands;
2 For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you.
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart,
4 And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
7 ¶ Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil.
8 It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones.
9 Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the first fruits of all your increase;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.
11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor detest His correction;
12 For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
13 ¶ Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding;
14 For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, And her gain than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies, And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand, In her left hand riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her.
19 The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; By understanding He established the heavens;
20 By His knowledge the depths were broken up, And clouds drop down the dew.
21 ¶ My son, let them not depart from your eyes-Keep sound wisdom and discretion;
22 So they will be life to your soul And grace to your neck.
23 Then you will walk safely in your way, And your foot will not stumble.
24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid; Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.
25 Do not be afraid of sudden terror, Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes;
26 For the LORD will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.
27 ¶ Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in the power of your hand to do so.
28 Do not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it," When you have it with you.
29 Do not devise evil against your neighbor, For he dwells by you for safety's sake.
30 Do not strive with a man without cause, If he has done you no harm.
31 Do not envy the oppressor, And choose none of his ways;
32 For the perverse person is an abomination to the LORD, But His secret counsel is with the upright.
33 The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the home of the just.
34 Surely He scorns the scornful, But gives grace to the humble.
35 The wise shall inherit glory, But shame shall be the legacy of fools.
When he finished reading this, he fell to his knees weeping uncontrollably. He wept for his wife and daughters, and for his failures. Finally a sense of peace overcame him, and he gave praise to God for saving his life, and left his family in God’s care. He drove the Jeep further into the mine, secured the door, and started unpacking. This would be his new home for the next 7 years unless something happened.
Fleataxi