The camera’s eye swept over a scene of the running gunfight. Joey stared at the images intently, trying to figure out which one was Goose. They all looked the same to Joey. His inability to see Goose frustrated him, making him angry and scared all at the same time.
Would Goose understand what had happened at the mall that night? Joey wasn’t sure. As much as he wanted Goose there, he was also terrified of telling his stepfather what he’d done.
“It was a close thing out here tonight,” the soldier went on. A caption identified him as Private First Class Mike Dunney. “But Goose- Sergeant Gander, I mean-he pulled us through it all right. He’s a good soldier. The best the army has to offer, if you ask me.”
Pride flushed through Joey.
“That’s your dad, isn’t it?” the kid on the couch asked.
“Yeah.” Joey was surprised at how choked his voice was. Goose had been more of a dad than Joey’s biological father had ever been.
“Must be scary. Him being over there, I mean.”
Joey wanted to be angry with the kid, but he couldn’t. It felt good to talk about Goose. “It is. I think Mom’s really scared.”
“Yeah. I get that.” The kid hesitated. “I don’t know where my dad is. Don’t know where my mom is either. I got up one morning; they were gone. I was all alone in the house.”
“Scary,” Joey commented.
“Yeah.”
“That was here at the post?”
“Yeah.”
“Your dad’s army?”
“My mom. First lieutenant. Dad taught high school. Physics.”
“Never cared much for physics,” Joey said.
“Me neither. But Dad would talk about it all the time.” The kid sat up on the couch and wrapped the blanket around him, though it wasn’t really cold. Not like it would be in another month. “I kind of tuned him out when he’d talk about stuff. Wish I hadn’t done that now.”
“I know what you mean.”
They were silent for a moment, watching as Danielle Vinchenzo ran another of the pieces on Goose.
“Seems like that reporter has a thing for your stepdad,” the kid said.
“What do you mean?”
“She’s always talking about him.”
“I don’t think it’s that,” Joey replied.
“Then what?”
Joey thought about it for a moment. “I think she sees Goose as kind of every soldier over there. Goose is just… a soldier, you know. Just the kind every guy over there is like.”
“She talks about him like he’s a hero.”
“I guess he is.” Joey thought it was strange that he hadn’t thought of Goose that way before. Goose had always been there for him. Always been such a… dad. A lump formed in the back of Joey’s throat. If I told you about this-about what happened at the mall-would you understand, Goose?
Thankfully, according to the news report, Goose was all right. Joey let out a tense breath as the news program shifted to a speech Nicolae Carpathia was going to deliver to the United Nations later that day.
“Is anything else on besides the news?” the kid asked.
“Like what?”
“Cartoons. Something like that.”
Giving in to the inevitable, knowing the kid wasn’t going to shut up, Joey tossed him the television remote control. “Knock yourself out.”
“Thanks.”
Joey stood.
“Leaving?” the kid asked.
“Yeah. Gotta go walk.”
“Want company?” The kid reached for his shoes.
“No.” Joey started for the door, not giving the kid the chance to catch up to him.
Local Time 0611 Hours
Joey took his old ten-speed from the garage out back. He’d helped Goose build that garage, along with the fort that Chris had played in. For a while after Chris was born, Joey had been small enough to swing in the swings with his little brother. That had changed pretty quickly.
He made himself stop thinking about Goose and Chris as he swung aboard the ten-speed. He pedaled by memory, trying hard not to give any thought to where he was going.
Fort Benning seemed deserted. According to the news, at least a third of the people around the world had vanished. Numbers were still coming in every day. Those numbers could change. Military bases had been really hard hit, as had the police forces, fire departments, and emergency medical services.
Military jeeps with armed soldiers riding shotgun patrolled the camp housing. After the disappearances, a lot of soldiers and their families living outside the fort had moved back inside the perimeter. When it got dark, though, everyone went inside. The camp was still on alert, and the nocturnal hours were carefully watched.
Joey loved the feel of the breeze in his face. For a few moments, he could pretend that he was younger, that he was just a kid again. But as soon as the military jeep sped up behind him and switched on its lights, that feeling went away.
7
United States of America
Fort Benning, Georgia
Local Time 0617 Hours
The alarm clock woke Megan Gander. She shot out a hand and silenced it before the second offensive bleat could sound. She lay quietly on the camp cot in her bedroom and listened to the snores of the girls sleeping in her bed.
It was the most peaceful sound in the world right now. At least in this corner of the world, people were safe and well cared for.
As always, her first thoughts and prayers were for Chris. Though she felt certain in light of everything she’d come to understand about events in the world that Chris was in a far better place, her son’s absence remained difficult to deal with.
She missed Chris terribly. Some nights, when Goose was away in the field, as he was now, Megan would let Chris watch cartoons and share her bed. She’d done the same thing with Joey. Especially after the divorce from her first husband.
They’d both been lonely, and the apartment she was renting at that time had only a single bedroom. She hadn’t wanted Joey sleeping on the couch all the time. As soon as she was able, she’d gotten a two-bedroom apartment.
Her cell phone vibrated in the pocket of the flannel pajama pants she wore. Reluctantly, she pulled it from her pocket, checked caller ID, and pushed herself from the cot.
The number came from the fort’s hospital. That couldn’t mean good news. Not this early.
“Megan,” she answered in a whisper.
“Did I wake you?” Aisha Waller asked. She was the night supervisor at the hospital.
“No. The alarm did a few minutes before you called.” Megan looked at the girls sleeping in her bedroom. All seven of them, three on the bed and four in sleeping bags on the floor, were between thirteen and sixteen. All of them had lost their parents and siblings in the rapture.
“I wanted to let you know that Lindsey Perlman got admitted a couple hours ago,” Aisha said.
“What happened?”
“She tried to commit suicide. Took a straight razor to her wrists.”
The announcement hurt and scared Megan. The Tribulation had already manifested all around the world. The next seven years would be the most trying and terrifying mankind had ever seen. People who failed to find Jesus during these times ran the risk of being lost forever.
“How is she?” Megan went to her closet and took out pearl gray slacks, a midnight blue blouse, and fresh underwear.
“The docs got her leveled off,” Aisha answered, “but it was a near thing.”
“You could have called me earlier.”
“And let you miss out on sleep? Sure. But that wouldn’t have helped the kids you’ve got to counsel today, would it?”
Megan made herself relax and breathe out. “No.”
“All you could have done was the same thing I was already doing: pray for that girl. I promise, I was doing enough for both of us.”
“I know.”
“Even had a couple of MPs in here helping. Between us, we got it all done.”