Chapter 2- “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures”
At a green pasture, about three-quarters of the way up the mountain, they decided to make their campground. One of Colonel Shepherd’s major concerns was a security, just in case other crazed human tried to steal food or attack their campsite high on the mountain. He posted men around the site during the night just in case to prevent any wild animals from causing problems or crazed humans running in fear of the flooding. They did not have any weapons and there only form of communication was a pocket whistle. There were only a few hours of daylight left that day so they did what they could to cut trees down with laser cutters that were brought along. Centuries old two- man saws were also put into use cutting down trees to make lean-toos. Even small hatchets were used to build shelters and cut wood for fires to keep warm.
Day two came fast, and only 24 hours remained before the comet collided with the Earth. Pastor Swift made sure there were plenty of prayer sessions to calm everyone’s fears about the end of the Earth. There was no communication with the outside world. No one knew what the rest of the world was doing. Their only focus was to survive the impending comet collision with Earth.
Colonel Shepherd had everyone inventory all the food and equipment they had and centralize all the food so they could cook for everyone, and conserve food and energy in so doing. They had no real weapons, since police and the military only used weapons. Just antique weapons such as crossbows, bows and arrows, spears that were hanging on the cabin walls were brought. No one knew if they even would work. Colonel Shepherd delegated Xiaolin Tan, a Chinese women corporate administrator for the North American World Corporate Order, Marcus Green a black man with a lot of technical experience and Mary Moon a widow and mechanical engineer to find some birch trees, and other small trees suitable for making bows, crossbows and arrows like the kind made centuries before in the early history of north American before the white man came. Others were delegated to cooking and preparing food. Still others were assigned to revolving guard duty with binoculars to search for any trouble with wildlife or crazed humans fleeing from any fires or flooding. At that point in time they had no real idea whether there would be flooding or fires or volcanic activity after the comet hit the Earth.
Mrs. Judy Swift, the Pastor’s wife took charge of the women organizing blankets and dry shelters for everyone to sleep in out of the nighttime elements. The air was thin and the temperature on the cool side at this high altitude of around 9,000 feet above sea level. Everyone in the little band of 40 Old World Christians took on a responsibility in preparation for the “event.”
At the end of the second day ten fires were well established with plenty of dead wood found in the forest. The women were preparing the easiest meal for a large group of people with limited resources, and that was stew. The meat was all frozen, and rapidly defrosting, so with the vegetables they brought, and the cans of chicken broth, huge pots of stew were being prepared. Some of the children even found wild onions and safe mushrooms to add to the stew. Darkness would soon be upon the mountain so all the work crews stopped, and the Christians sat down together to consume their meal of beef stew. Blessings were said and everyone held hands. Beef stew never tasted so good. Many people secretly worried how long their food was going to last, and where they would find more food when their food ran out? Anxiety was high in everyone’s mind. Prayer groups were praying all day long.
The inevitable came the next day almost to the hour. As the comet collided with the Earth just before dawn everyone was knocked to the ground, and some thrown up against trees. Some people were knocked unconscious when they were thrown with severe force against rocks and large pine trees. The force was so great that the entire Earth shook. The Comet hit the Pacific Ocean with such force that steam rose from the heat of the comet to block the atmosphere from getting any sun for weeks. A tidal wave so large, that no words could describe it, was created as the comet sunk to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Volcanoes erupted and the Earth’s crust cracked, the south polar cap melted in one week, and so did the Northern polar cap a few weeks later. All the continents were covered in ocean water up to 6,000 feet above sea level on average in less than a week. Only mountains tops survived as islands in a water filled planet. The human race was practically wiped out in one sweeping catastrophe. Only pockets of humans survived around the earth. No time for political maneuvering. No time for rockets to blast off to other planets. There was simply no time to prepare for anything except death.
One little group of blessed Old World Christians survived on a mountaintop in the Sierra Mountains. Unbeknown to the Old World Christians another group of Old World Jews had survived at Boreal ridge near by while they were visiting Lake Tahoe in the RV anti-gravity vehicles. The oceans quickly washed over San Francisco, and Los Angeles flooding all the low land areas and rapidly climbing over the low hills into the Sierra Mountains. Up route 81 in California the ocean waters splashed taking trees, rocks, houses, transport vehicles and everything in the way of this huge surge of ocean water miles deep. Donner’s pass at 8700 feet above sea level became a river between the mountain range. All the mountains below 6,000 feet sea level were submerged. Dead human bodies by the millions were everywhere floating on the top of the ocean waters. Dead animals, dead birds, dead everything was floating and stinking on top of the oceans that blanketed an entire mountain range.
In New York the City was a league underwater and the Ocean swelled until it reached the Catskill Mountains and eventually covered these low mountains and continued on to the higher Adirondack Mountains and White Face Mountain. The coast of California, Oregon, Washington and Canada was gone. Now a memory like the city of Atlantis, thousands of leagues under the sea now. Sea creatures of all types were washed upland with all the other dead bodies. Sharks were seen and whales as well as millions of other marine life was uprooted and literally flushed over the lands.
A steam mist that covered the entire earth blocked the sun. Darkness was shadowing the entire Earth. The few plants that survived on mountaintops were beginning to wither from the lack of sunlight. Everyday was a dark day. Dark in emotion, dark in light, dark in spirit. Survival of the few remaining pockets of humans seemed doubtful. Would the human race disappear just like the dinosaurs did millions of years before? Time would tell.
A week went by quickly and there was no sign of other humans near North Star Mountain. Only dead carcasses of animals and humans washed ashore everyday.
Colonel Shepherd assembled the Old World Christians in the darkness of the day and they prayed and planned what to do. No one was sure they would survive. All they could see from North Star Mountain was ocean in every direction. “People our survival is based on what we can scavenge everyday from anything worthwhile that washes up on our shores. Do not touch or go near the dead bodies of humans of animals since they will be diseased. If you cannot carry scavenged materials tell someone to come and find help. Floating cans of food is a treasure and any useful wood and construction materials. If we wish to survive we need to save everything we find,” said Colonel Shepherd.
