Exodus: Book Two: Last Days Trilogy Read Free Page A

major interstates now closed to incoming traffic, beginning seven miles from the city limits in order to optimize highway access and use. Evacuation busses will be on hand to transport people from their vehicles if necessary.”
    Eliza shook her head, eyes closed. “A nightmare. They’re just rattling directions as if it’s an everyday occurrence instead of the end.”
    “Don’t say that,” Kyle exclaimed. “If they don’t hide their feelings, people will panic.”
    “It’s too close to home. Chicago is just too close. Is it going to happen, Kyle?”
    “I don’t know. I know if it affects us, we’re ready. Right?”
    Eliza nodded.
    “But we can’t sit by with our kids trapped in Chicago.” He picked up his knapsack. “You keep this place locked tight. The keys to the Chevy are hanging by the kitchen door if you need them. I shouldn’t be gone long.” Kyle grabbed his belongings. “Thanks for watching Seth.” He walked to the door.
    “Kyle,” Eliza called. “I’ll pray for you. Bring our children home.”
    Kyle paused for a second in the open doorway, eyes fixed in the distance. Then he nodded, smiled, and said, “Count on it.”
     

Westing Biogenetic Institute - Chicago, Illinois
     
    “Whoa,” Marcus uttered as the ground trembled and pieces of plaster rained down on him and Reggie as they sat on the floor. He swept his hand over his head, clearing the dust and debris.
    “You think they’re trying to shake a way loose?” Reggie asked.
    Marcus shrugged and muttered. “Has to be a way out. We’re breathing, aren’t we?”
    “Yeah, but we don’t know how much air we have,” Reggie said, half smiling.
    “You may be right about shaking things loose.”
    “You really think that’s good?” she asked.
    “Fifty-fifty. It could crush us, but it could open up a passage.”
    “Yeah. How long do you suppose it will take for them to find us?”
    “Depends on the amount of rubble, their manpower, and how long they’ll stay at it.”
    No sooner did Marcus say that than the drilling stopped. He and Reggie both looked up.
    “Dinner,” Marcus said. “They stopped for dinner.”
    “Dinner? Wonder what they’re having,” she mused sarcastically.
    “Why else would they stop?”
    “Are you trying to convince me… or yourself?”
    “Neither. No convincing needed. They stopped for a break.” Marcus glanced up at the roof, trying to shake off the anxiety of this new silence.

Los Angeles, CA
     
    Rev. Bailey peeked into the living room to see how his wife and Devante were getting along. He saw Devante’s annoyance immediately. He couldn’t blame him. Her high pitched, rapid accent could bore a hole in a vault. And yet, Bailey felt a vicious humor. The divine Devante was, at least temporarily, trapped with Grace, who was still in her robe, and jabbering a mile a minute.
    “And then I said to my mother… She’s eighty-two, you know. I said to her. We should be packing up and going to the hills. But my mother insisted that we stay put because the hills would crumble. Isn’t that right? I heard that was right. You would know, wouldn’t you?”
    “Which do you desire to know of the sundry questions you have asked in these past twenty seconds?” Devante sighed.
    “If you know if we should head for the hills. Or is that giving away family secrets? I think my mother’s wrong. She’s eighty-two years old, you know. She could go to bed and not wake up. Of course, with the world ending... we could all go to bed and not wake up. But, then again, we would wake up, wouldn’t we? In the kingdom of God. But you above all would know that.”
    “Woman! Silence!” Devante flung out his hand, his face registering disgust.
    She was out like a light. A gin catnap.
    “I am so sorry.” Rev. Bailey said on his way in, stifling a smile “I didn’t mean to take so long and leave you. But that crowd...” He saw Grace and smiled. “Oh, God bless gin.”
    “She speaks so much and too fast.”
    “I