Final Dawn: Escape From Armageddon (28 page)

     The rifles were unloaded, since small kids tend to get curious sometimes. But each of the security staff carried two thirty round magazines with them at all times. If the man at the security station ever sounded the alarm, they’ll all be there within a minute or so, ready to defend their new home against invaders.

    
Bryan asked “Who do you think they are?”

     “Judging from their vehicle,” John said, “I’d guess they are truck drivers who once carried building materials to the construction site. Maybe they’re just look
ing for a safe place to ride out the cold. But surely they’re smart enough to realize that the empty compound has no food to support them”

     Mark added “Well, at least they’re leaving. Let’s just keep a close watch on that camera in case they come back.

     But they didn’t come back.

     And the
next few hours in the mine were somber and relatively uneventful. At least compared to the situation on the outside.

-59-

     Time had run out. It was January 15, 2016.

    
Out of a clear blue sky 400 miles northwest of Shenyang,      China, Saris 7 came rumbling in and impacted with earth. In Northwest China, everything instantly went black.

     For the rest of the earth, it took a bit longer. Over the next few hours, the dust cloud raised by the impact would slowly cover the earth. Southwest of
San Angelo, Texas it was just past midnight at the time of the collision.

     By daybreak
, most Texans would be seeing their final dawn. Before the day was done, the skies would darken to a heavy brown haze. And it would stay that way for years.

     In the coming hours, many millions of people around the earth would perish by their own hand, or by the hand of a loved one who didn’t want to see them suffer.

     In the coming weeks and months, many more millions would perish by the severe conditions they would face.

     But at this place,
just off Highway 83, seventy two miles from San Angelo, was a small group of people hiding in the safety of the earth. And they would survive.

     Thank you for reading
Final Dawn
. I sincerely hope you enjoyed it. Please enjoy this excerpt of
Hidden. Hidden
is the second book in the
Final Dawn
series, and will be available on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble in November, 2013.

-Darrell Maloney-

     They wrapped her body in white sheets and laid her gently on the floor in the back of
Bay 24. It struck Mark that this is what Jesus must have looked like when He was laid to rest. But he knew that she wouldn’t be coming back. Not now, not ever.

     The one thing they had never planned for was a burial while in the mine. Under the bleak circumstances, it should have been a basic requirement. Perhaps they had just been to
o busy to consider it. Or maybe subconsciously they just didn’t want to.

    
They covered her body with salt from the mine. The burial mound stood a full three feet tall, and would compact over time.

     Mark knew that the body wouldn’t decompose into bones. He knew enough about the mysterious works of nature to know that the body would mummify as the salt absorbed the bodily fluids and protected it from parasites. This was good, because it gave them the option of moving the body later on, after the breakout, into a family plot they’d set aside in the compound.

     As usual, Karen was full of surprises. She’d stayed up all night the night before painting a piece of scrap plywood into the most beautiful of gravestones. She’d have loved it, and she’d have been very proud.

    
Bryan, the closest thing they had in the mine to a preacher, said some pretty words and offered some comfort to the grieving. His words didn’t help the situation, of course. But they bought some time before the tears started flowing.

     And everyone, except little Anna, did a good job
of holding back the tears. That was, until Karen pulled another surprise by producing a single yellow rose and placing it on the finished grave mound.

     Karen had
been growing a single rosebush in the back of the greenhouse the whole time, unbeknownst to anyone other than her and Hannah. For special occasions, she’d tell everyone later.

     Special occasions, she’d say, like for a mother who’d just given birth to a new baby. Or to the elders, on a milestone wedding anniversary.

     Or, for a beloved who was taken away far too soon.

     Anna and David sang
Amazing Grace
and
Rock of Ages
, just the way Uncle Joe had taught them. Joe accompanied them on an acoustic guitar, and it was at that moment Mark noticed for the first time how his niece and nephew were growing up into fine young adults. And he let his thoughts wander for a moment about the cycle of life. The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away…

     There was something about the simple grave, the pure white virtue of the mound, the single yellow rose. It was… beautiful. As sad as it was, it was indeed beautiful, and
befitting of the life which lay beneath it.

     Mark knew this would be one of
his favorite places to come in the months and years ahead. He knew it would offer him solace and peace, and a place to lose himself in his thoughts.

     He also knew that his love for this woman, and her love for him, wasn’t going to end just because he could no longer feel her tender touch, and watch her laughter. No, despite all they had been through, and even as the whole world was dying around them, that love would stay intact. Forever.

     Bryan would come back later in the day and install a spotlight, which would shine onto the grave day and night, as long as they were in the mine. He even installed a battery backup, so in the event of a power outage, her light would be the only one shining. A beacon in the night, he said.

    
Bryan said it was the least he could do for her, since she’d brightened the lives of so many during the course of her lifetime.

     And all of them wondered, but dared not speak the words, whether she would suffer this indignity alone, or would have some company laying beside her, in eternal repose, at some point before they were able to break out.