The Disappearance of a Pied Piper

"Where Do We Stand, Right Now?"

"Cynthia, get some rest," Bud said, "I'm going to take a watch, but first I want to debrief with my men.

"Sure thing, Bud," Cynthia yawned broadly, "I'll be right here when you're ready to get some rest yourself. Don't work all night, if you can help it."

"Jerome," Bud sort of yelled in a whisper because it was night, and most of the community was finally asleep after the attacks of the day.

"I'm here, Chief," Jerome said. "How can I help you?"

"We haven't had a proper briefing in days, since the days have been drawing all of us into action, without much of a breather to plan," Bud said. "It's just you, me, and Rich in the church building, right?"

"Right," he nodded. "George and Stan are keeping the parsonage as safe as they can."

"I really want to have a briefing with the force, but I don't know how to do, that unless we use walkie-talkies," Bud said.

"And that might be disruptive to those, who are trying to sleep," Jerome said.

"Find Rich, and meet me in the dining room because it has carpet," Bud said. "Maybe, that will keep the sound down to a minimum."

"Will do," Jerome assured him, "Maybe I can brief George and Stan in the morning. I was planning to run over to the parsonage, anyway, before foot traffic starts up."

"That's a plan," Bud said. "Meet you in the dining room in two minutes."

"Got it," Jerome saluted. "Be there."

In a short-short, the three were seated around the dining table to talk over their situation, regarding as many issues as possible.

"Where do we stand, right now, Gentlemen?" Bus asked. "I want to discuss as many areas of our current life, our 'new normal' as possible."

"The trip up to the plateau was harried the other day," Jerome said, "and in the process, we lost about half of the town, that remained. That's been hard to swallow, but it was not due to a lack of trying. The rogue wave came on us so quickly, that we just couldn't reach everyone in town with the message, 'RUN!'"

"Jerome, we did our best," Bud said. "Let's focus on the 37 members of our community, who made it to the church plateau. Maybe we can keep from losing anymore."

"That is my desire, Sir," Jerome said.

"Rich, what are you seeing among the people of our little community?" Bud asked. "How are they, emotionally and physically?"

A dozen of them haven't gotten to sleep, tonight, because of the fever they are suffering, due to the worst sunburn they've ever had in their lives," Rich shook his head, "No."

"Other physical concerns, Jerome?" Bud asked.

"About eight have burning lesions from small meteors, that nailed them before they could make it to shelter," Jerome said. "Four of these are suffering scorpion stings, and the fever, that goes along with it. "Not having any antivenom, these four are barely alive."

"What can be done for them?" Bud asked.

"We found some generic aspirin and other headache remedies," Jerome said, "but pain-wise it's like trying to put out a structure fire with a water gun. We are keeping them as comfortable as possible, but sadly that's not much."

"Liam got hammered really bad, and he's still moaning with his decimated eye," Rich said.

"I count 21 wounded so far," Bud said.

"There's more, Chief," Jerome said. "Last I heard, Altimus couldn't keep from scratching the welts planted on him by the killer kudzu. At least we don't have to hear his moans, since he's in the parsonage."

"The hybrid creatures did their worst on these eight," Rich said, "but at least the meteors helped this time, killing all of them, and providing us some more meat for food."

"What about the insects' and worms' effects on the community?" Bud asked.

"I've yet to meet, even one member of our little town, who has not some physical effect of these normal creatures," Jerome said. "The three of us have had itchy skin and gnawed places from the worms, haven't we?"

They all nodded, "Yes."

"That means 37 out of 37 have been affected in some way by the attacks earlier, today," Bud said. "Do what you can to keep their spirits up. If we survive this torment or tribulation or whatever you want to call it, then we are going to have to keep our community hoping, that we can survive."

"Yes, Chief," Jerome said.

"I'm with you, Sir," Rich said.

"What do we know, that's positive, Men?" Bud asked.

"Between the two shelters, we have about a hundred cans of vegetables and fruit," Jerome said. "Thankfully there is about six month's worth of vacuum-sealed meals in tubs."

"The freezers are full of meat and bread," Rich said. "Do you think the preacher knew, that something like this was coming?"

"I'm sure of that," Bud said. "Speaking of the preacher, have we found all of his little treasures, yet?"

"Hard to say, Chief," Jerome said. "We keep finding new things at every turn, a hand-cranked radio, gardening and hewing tools, and a whole locker full of nothing but flintrocks to use few making fires when the power finally goes out."

"How is it that we've still got power, right now?" Bud asked.

"The preacher left us a generator, and 30 gallons of petrol in the shed," Jerome said.

"Dude! He thought of everything," Bud said.

"Apparently," said Jerome. "The kitchens in the church and in the parsonage have utensil drawers with about 30 each of knives, spoons, and forks for each place. The knife blocks are replete with tools, that have helped us to cut the new creature's meat and 30 cooking mallets for tenderizing the meat. We've found 50 bags of rock salt, which can be used for making ice cream as well as preserving the creature's meat we need to save since the freezers are so full, that there's no room for the new meat."

"Rich, anything to add?" Bud asked.

"There are libraries of books in the church, and in the parsonage," Rich said. "Mostly the books have something to do with the Christian belief system, but there are, also, a plethora of children's books, gardening books, home decorating books, books about art, and the 50 or more Bibles we've found between the two shelters. This could come in very handy, since we appear to have no place to go, and the heat of the sun is preventing us from going outside for more than a few minutes at the time."

"Good work, Men," Bud said. "Have you found any survival tips and advice on how to endure catastrophes, like the ones we're facing, in the words of The Bible?"

"So far, Psalms and Proverbs are basic wisdom books," Jerome said. "There is a wealth of information in those books. Daniel and Revelation are showing great promise, regarding our attacks and environmental issues."

"Speaking of Daniel and Revelation, can you give me one or two examples of things you found, that compare to our last few days," Bud asked.

"As a matter of fact, I can," Jerome said. "I found these words in Revelation 6:13, KJV, 'And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.' Chief, I don't think it is much of a stretch of the imagination to see the phrase, 'And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth' as meaning the meteors we've been experiencing recently."

"I agree with you," Bud said. "Anything else?"

"Revelation 8:8, KJV, has me worried a bit because we haven't seen anything like this, yet," Jerome said.

"Do tell. What can we expect to come?" Bud was getting excited.

"It's not good, Chief," Jerome said. "It's really bad. According to Revelation 8:8, 'And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;' I think a huge meteor is coming. Today? Tomorrow? Next year? Who knows, but if this is a prediction of a future event, then our lives will experience even more disastrous changes. This verse sounds like the advent of a meteor the size of a mountain. If that one lands in the ocean, anywhere near the one that took out that World Tech ship, then we may not have anywhere to run or drive to, and we'll all perish, like the rest of our town. The verse said 'the third part of the sea became blood.' I do not doubt that. If a mountain-sized meteor hits the ocean, can you imagine how many fish, whales, and other sea creatures will die in the impact zone? How could we sanitize that kind of salt water, if we run out of fresh water on the island?"

"Good point, Jerome," Bud said. "That is truly terrifying."

"I was reading in Daniel, during my two hours, Chief," Rich said.

"What'd you find, Rich?" Bud asked.

"Daniel, chapter #7 talks about four different kinds of beasts," Rich said. "The fourth beast was a hybrid. I'm kind of wondering if there's any connection with hybrid creatures we've encountered."

"Could be," Bud said. "Keep reading, and tell me what else you find."

"Will do, Chief," Rich said.

"Gentlemen, we've had a great briefing, but you need to get some rest, and I need to take this watch to shake the cobwebs out of my wood-smacked face," Bud said. "Jerome, do this briefing over again with George and Stan in the morning."

"Will do, Chief," Jerome said.

"Good night, Men," Bud said.

"Good night, Chief," they spoke in chorus.

Starting on his rounds, Bud thought, A meteor the size of a mountain? How is that possible? I'm sure God made it to be that size, but how can we prepare for an event, like that? Could we drive pylons deep into the ground, and start building a sheltering tower 50 feet above the plateau? I have no idea how we would drive pylons that deep into the ground, and at that height, we might be able to fit 10 people in the tower of safety. What could we do for the other 27 members of our community? Is there any hope for us? Not in our own strength. We must rest upon the mighty Arms of The Lord. Somehow, I've got to tell the rest of the community what has happened to me.

Bud walked through the church building, noticing where the various members of the community were sleeping for some possible emergency, or simply to pray for each. I'm able to pray, he thought. I've never been able to do that before. Something has changed in me, and I don't remember trying to do anything to change me. God has mysterious ways. Will I ever understand the ways of God?

Continuing his walk, his beat, systematic way of protecting his people, Bud realized something. God has been watching over me all these years, and I never knew it. Even when I hated Him, He cared for me. Even when I ran away from Him, I was still safely ensconced in His hands. God has no doubt changed my heart from hatred toward The Enemy to love toward my Father. I can tell the people of this community of the change in my heart, but I have no ability to affect the same change in any of their hearts. Was my name written in The Lamb's Book of Life from the Foundation of the World? The Bible says, that it was or I couldn't be saved, right now.

"Thank You, Lord, for saving me, and my dear wife," he prayed softly. "Please, grant that many of the people of our community were written down in The Lamb's Book of Life, too. Help me to be honest and wise when I give my testimony in the morning. Save those you have chosen unto Life. Help us all to know how to live during these the most trying years of human history."

History is His Story, he thought. That makes a lot of sense to me, now, as never before. Giving my testimony is something, that fits well in a jury trial. What does a witness do? Let's review. A witness tells the judge and the jury only what he or she has seen, heard, touched, tasted, or smelled, regarding the trial questions to which that individual must respond. He or she can't tell anything, that was learned from another human. That would be second-hand information, and inadmissible as a testimony or facts or evidence in the trial.

Bud continued his rounds, watching everything and everyone he was to protect, contemplating everything, that must be told in the group setting.

What do I know for sure about the transformation in my life? Bud thought. I've been an atheist for much of my life, but now I'm a believer in Jesus Christ. I once was blind to the things of God, but now I see them. I once hated God because He didn't save me from the bullies when I was a teenager, but now I love Him, knowing that even that experience molded me into the compassionate, long-suffering police officer I am today. Our motto, "to serve and to protect" is permanently burned into my heart. No one, nothing, no creature, no environmental catastrophe is going to harm any of the people under my care without me being willing to die to prevent that harm. Now, we've come full circle back to the mountainous meteor, that we will no doubt have to face someday. "Lord, what can I do to protect my people from certain death?" Giving my testimony is the best way I can protect them. Anyone, who gets saved as a result of hearing my testimony, and being chosen by God will be protected at the time of their death. "Absent from the body. Present with the Lord." (II Corinthians 5:8, KJV)